While wandering through ICFF this weekend, I came across the Cherner Chair. Impressively comfortable for a hard surface, the chair drew my attention because of its quirky yet elegant shape. The Cherner Chair could be compared to the Eames plywood molded chair for its overall look and the post war era in which it was conceived.

Cherner Chair. Designed by The Cherner Chair Company.

In 1958 Norman Cherner designed a molded plywood armchair for Plycraft, who after attempting to claim the design as its own, was sued by Cherner and forced to pay royalties until they ceased production of the chair in the 1970’s. Like Charles and Ray Eames, Norman Cherner was known for his prefab, post war housing, but his chair’s popularity skyrocketed when it appeared in Norman Rockwell’s 1961 painting “The Artist at Work” on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. The Cherner Chair Company was founded in 1999 by Thomas and Benjamin Cherner, sons of Norman Cherner. Utilizing his original drawings and specifications, the reissued designs are manufactured with the same attention to detail found in the original hand made classics.

The Cherner Chair Company is making an effort to be sustainable by using wood from sustainably managed forests, recycled content steel and low VOC finishes. The chairs are manufactured entirely in the U.S.A, which cuts down on shipping costs assuming they are shipped within the continent. My favorite Cherner quote about sustainability – “Our primary environmental philosophy is that you will never find a Cherner Chair product in a landfill.”.