Image source: Cassina — CH66 Chair (Karakter)
© Cassina and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research.
CH66 Chair (Karakter)
CH66 by Nicos Zographos, 1966: a tubular steel cantilever chair with a saddle leather seat and back.
1966
Approx. $1,200 (reference price; varies by region and retailer)
Official product information
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Go to the official product pageDescription
Overview
CH66 is a cantilever chair designed in 1966 by Nicos Zographos, now part of the Karakter x Cassina range. The product text links it to the Bauhaus movement and to a double curve between the backrest and the seat.
Construction
- Structure: four steel tubes, chrome-plated or matte black painted, bent and attached with intentionally exposed screws.
- Seat and backrest: saddle leather, pulled taut and secured with metal springs.
Specifications
- Frame finishes: chrome-plated steel or black.
- Upholstery: saddle leather in 13 colours.
- Design: Nicos Zographos, 1966.
Story
A cantilever turned into a double curve
The product text says CH66 starts from the typical cantilever structure and then inverts it, so that the backrest and the seat form a visually striking double curve. It quotes Nicos Zographos describing the chair as resilient, elastic and so light that it does not encumber space with its mass, and as the closest he came to a pure and precise kind of chair.
Revived with the designer's daughters
The page states that the chair is part of the MoMA permanent collection in New York. Its revival in the Karakter x Cassina collection followed an in-depth study carried out with his daughters, Athena and Fotini Zographos.
More from Cassina
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Cicognino Table
Franco Albini's three-legged "little stork" table, 1953, with one leg rising into a handle.
LC8 Tabouret tournant
Swivel stool by Charlotte Perriand with a chrome steel frame and circular-material padding.
Collection
Karakter x Cassina
Karakter x Cassina: the Danish company Karakter, acquired in 2019, with pieces by Bodil Kjaer, Joe Colombo, Verner Panton, Gianfranco Frattini and others.
