Eero Aarnio

The Finnish designer Eero Aarnio, who studied at the Institute of Industrial Arts in Helsinki from 1954 until 1957, was a pioneering exponent of using plastic for designer objects. In 1963 Eero Aarnio designed the legendary "Ball Chair" (or "Globe Chair", manufactured in 1965), a globular seating shell of plastic reeinforced with glass fiber attached to a narrow plinth with a broad bottom and a round opening in the front, through which one can look whilst beeing seated on the upholstered inside. The globe mutes all sounds from outside but sounds heard inside are amplified. The globe provides anyone seated inside with a protective and intimate space. The Eero Aarnio "Bubble Chair" (1968) represented a further development, one that even enhances the cocooning effect. The shell of this chair is made of transparent Lucite and is suspended from the ceiling.