Risom Lounge Chair

Overview

The Risom Lounge Chair is Jens Risom's webbed lounge chair of 1943, built for Knoll from a hardwood frame and woven straps. It comes with arms (654LA) or armless (654LC), and the lines of its seat combine gentle curves with geometric angles.

Construction

• Frame of maple, walnut or teak hardwood, joined with mortise-and-tenon construction and finished in catalyzed lacquer
• Seat and back of woven webbing in 100% natural cotton, a cotton/nylon blend or Sunbrella
• On the arm version the seat basket attaches to the arm frame with invisible screws
• A contract armless version has solid wood stretchers under the seat

Specifications

• With arms (654LA): W 23¾" × D 27¾" × H 30¼" (603 × 705 × 768 mm), seat 16" high, arms 22" high
• Armless (654LC): W 20", D 27½", H 30¼", seat height 16"

The first collection made for Knoll

Knoll calls Jens Risom's furniture the first collection designed for and manufactured by the company, which helped to establish Knoll as an early provider of modern design in America. The collection was first known as the 600 Series, and it came out of a 1941 meeting between the 23-year-old Hans Knoll, who until then had imported and distributed European designs, and the 24-year-old Risom. Knoll expected the war to cut off his supply lines and wanted furniture that could be made in New York.

Offcast wood and parachute webbing

Risom described the furniture as "very basic, very simple, inexpensive, easy to make", and Knoll says it was made from offcast wood and discarded nylon webbing from parachute factories. The shop adds that, because of wartime restrictions on materials, the lounge chair was first built from simple maple frames and parachute webbing. In 1942 Knoll printed its first catalogue, which held 15 pieces by Risom.

Image source: Knoll — Risom Lounge Chair · © Knoll and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research. · View official product page ↗ · Image use & copyright policy