Image source: Poltrona Frau — Odeon Armchair
© Poltrona Frau and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research.
Odeon Armchair
Odeon: a cinema armchair with an electric recline and a footrest that slides, then rotates 40°.
1020 × 1129 × 956 mm
Official product information
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Go to the official product pageDescription
Overview
Odeon is an electric reclining armchair from the in-house Poltrona Frau Style & Design Centre, a group formed in the second half of the 1960s for research and development. The page says it was created for contemporary cinema seating and was designed to furnish the old 1930s Odeon Café in Milan, since reconverted into the cinema The Space Odeon, close to the Duomo.
Image source: Poltrona Frau — Odeon Armchair · © Poltrona Frau and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research. · View official product page ↗ · Image use & copyright policy
Construction
The frame is seasoned beech, the seat is suspended on woven elastic belts, and the padding is fire-resistant polyurethane foam, on a wooden base. The headrest is reinforced, the armrests are large, and fine stitching marks the backrest and seat. An electric mechanism reclines the backrest and lifts the footrest; the controls sit in the armrest. The cover is Pelle Frau® leather in the collection colours, with other covers on request.
Specifications
- Single seat: W 102 cm, D 95.6 cm, H 112.9 cm
- Reclined side view: 132.6 cm deep
- Options: a drink or multi-purpose holder in the front of the armrest, a removable LED light, a USB battery charger with aluminium finish, and a small table
Story
A seat for The Space Odeon
Odeon was made for one place. According to the product page, it was designed to furnish the old Odeon Café, a 1930s venue in the centre of Milan that was recently converted into The Space Odeon cinema, a short distance from the Duomo. The brochure gives the same account in Italian and English and credits the design to R & D Poltrona Frau.
The page says the armchair keeps the timeless charm of that room while aiming at new levels of functionality. In practice that shows up as the reinforced headrest, the wide armrests that carry the controls, and a recline movement worked out specifically for this seat.
A footrest with two movements
The footrest does not simply swing up. The page explains that it first slides forward and then rotates through 40°, a mechanism it calls one of a kind and designed ad hoc so that users have a large area on which to rest their legs.
