Eames Lounge Chair

<WRITER> Jonathan Campbell & Marc Baker
<PHOTOGRAPHY> Jonathan Campbell, Unsplash

Twenty years ago, before there was much of a client list to speak of or even a proper desk… there was a chair. An Eames Lounge Chair.

Some chairs are just chairs. Ours never was.

Designed by Charles and Ray Eames back in 1956. Moulded plywood, walnut veneer, black leather. It sat in the corner of our first office. It stood for something. Craft over commodity. Considered over convenience. It was also, simply, somewhere to sit. Somewhere to think. Most of our best early ideas didn’t arrive at a desk, they arrived in that chair. In the quiet, before the day got loud.

It quietly became a daily obsession. Many years later, our world would come to be inhabited by someone else who shared our love affair with this particular piece of furniture. That person being The Obsessive founder, Jonathan Campbell.

The Obsessive exists for people who believe in considered consumption — buy the right thing, buy it once, know why you own it. Our favourite piece in its wealth of online articles? Jonathan’s story of the part this very same chair played in his own life — his sits in his living room, not the office.

FURNITURE CRAFT

Furniture manufacturing employs thousands across the UK and contributes significantly to the economy. Built on skills passed down, not scaled up. Craft, still standing, and worth championing.

Jonathan’s Story…

Charles and Ray Eames were people who didn’t just design beautiful things: they invented new ways to make them. They were people with vision and ideas, and everything they did falls into the world of The Obsessive.

Like most obsessives, I have a thing about furniture. My kids have grown up in a house where the furniture usually has a name and a story. They think it’s normal. Our lounge chair and ottoman doesn’t live a sheltered life: it’s in the living room. Everyone uses it; my nephews like to spin in it, Beatrice watches films in it and I regularly read and fall asleep in it. It’s one of the greatest chairs in the world.

The back and base are made from laminated plywood moulded into shape with deep, firm but comfortable leather cushions bolted into place. It’s a thing of beauty because it performs faultlessly the purpose for its design. It’s built by the Herman Miller company and Vitra in Europe, they construct it with the finest materials and with such an attention to detail that it’s almost indestructible. Because of this, it’s very expensive, but it’s worth it: it’s an investment piece.

Jonathan Campbell is founder of The Obsessive. Further reading? Check out theobsessive.co.uk

Our lounge chair and ottoman doesn’t live a sheltered life.

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