If you happen to be among our more loyal readers, you’ve probably heard me speak of my fondness for bentwood in past posts. Attributed to luminaries like Gerrit Thomas Rietveld and Alvar Aalto (Frank Gehry and the Eames also took their turn at the technology), the process of milling wood into thin laminates then using steam and pressure to create all manner of elegant and gravity defying curvature was actually invented by one Michel Thonet circa 1856.

Felt Chaise Chair. Designed by Jeremy Kaplan.

Long recognized as the inventor of plywood, Thonet’s Model 14 Bentwood Chair announced the dawn of modern furnishing. Though the piece looks quite different from the iconic emblems of 20th. Century bentwood, it nevertheless represented the first of a kind, the antecedent to the single-piece wooden construction of favorites like Aalto’s Paimio Chair or the Eames’ Lounge Chair. Thonet’s chair was such an achievement, in fact, that none other than Le Corbusier remarked of it, “Never has anything been created more elegant and better in its conception, more precise in its execution, and more excellently functional.”

On the heels of my look at Cassina’s re-issue of Le Corbusier’s masterful LC4 chaise, the comment is particularly apropos, given that Jeremy Kaplan‘s new Felt Chaise Chair combines the elegance of single-piece bentwood with the functional ergonomics of Corbusier’s classic lounger. Essentially a stripped-down homage to the LC4, Kaplan’s chaise takes the steel frame profile of Le Corbusier’s piece and re-invents it as a razor-thin and sensuously curvaceous slice of bentwood, then perches same atop a simple steel base in the shape of a humble ¼ circle. For those who enjoy a bit of irony, the shape of the base raises an appreciative eyebrow, for it is, in fact, a winsome inversion of Le Corbusier’s tubular arc (the feature that allows one to adjust the position of the LC4).

Contrary to Le Corbusier’s piece, Kaplan’s chaise is permanently fixed in its effortless arc, forever poised atop the steel base by the merest of twin contact points-a feat of engineering that would make Newton proud. And Kaplan further augments the spare aesthetic with a curiously unorthodox choice of upholstery, a mere membrane of woven felt. So no bulky foam for this airy piece (though he does offer an alternative in an exceptionally thin cushion of distressed leather). If you appreciate the work of the masters but don’t quite have the means to outfit your digs with the real deal, try Kaplan’s take on the classic LC4-it has many a merit all on its own.

via KanyeUniversecity