111 Navy Chair
I've been lucky enough to visit Emeco's Pennsylvania factory where their iconic chairs are made by hand. It was a religious experience for me, a person with a sick chair fetish. I've also been lucky enough to befriend Gregg Buchbinder, Emeco's Chairman and the man responsible for the brand's reinvention. This week in Milan as Emeco debuts the 111 Navy Chair, a take on the classic Navy Chair but made with 111 recycled Coca-Cola bottle, I tracked Gregg down and asked him a few questions about Emeco, working with a brand as big as Coke, and his love affair with Philippe Starck.
The 111 Navy Chair fits into the Emeco story perfectly. Who had the idea first, you or Coke?
Coke had the idea of producing something significant using discarded RPET plastic bottles. Coke had a short list of design companies and designers for consideration.
Are the chairs made in your Pennsylvania factory?
The 111 Navy chair is injected molded, which is not a process done at the Emeco factory. Because this is a project intended to have the least impact on the environment, we selected an injection molder close to the RPET recycling center.
Collaboration is nothing new to Emeco as Philippe Starck, Frank Gehry, and Ettore Sottsass have all designed chairs for you. But I don't think you've collaborated with a brand before, and certainly nothing as massive as Coca-Cola. What is the difference in working with them as opposed to an individual designer?
A collaboration with individual designers or a huge company like Coca-Cola is way different. We work very closely with every designer who is designing a chair for us. We eat with them, we visit their homes, we meet their families, we travel with them, we hang out and have fun with them… we fall in love and chairs are conceived. What we love about working with Coca-Cola is the opportunity to help make the world a better place. Coca-Cola has the size, financial wherewithal, and voice to be heard all around the world. They have given us the support to make a very high quality iconic chair out of garbage, something we believe people will love and keep for a long time. It is our hope that the 111 Navy Chair becomes the poster child for good design-design that is focused on life cycle not lifestyle.
I've heard that the butt print on the Navy chair is Betty Grable’s. Is this true? And does the new chair use Ms. Grable's behind too?
Back in the 1940’s when Emeco was making chairs for Navy Ships and Submarines the men were out at sea for long periods of time. Betty Grable’s bottom was probably a great fantasy for most of the men. The new 111 Navy Chair is an identical clone using a new material.
Most Emeco products, though available in colors, are usually seen in brushed or polished aluminum. For this project, that was not an option. How were the colors chosen?
The colors and finish were of major importance to us. We were fortunate to be able to work with one of the top color and finish experts in the country, Laura Guido Clark. She researched everything and created a palette of earth inspired colors for this collection.
Like the Aluminum Navy chair, can this new chair be thrown from a window?
No chair in the world is as indestructible as the Emeco 1006 Navy Chair. Our goal for the 111 Navy Chair was to make the strongest RPET chair on the planet.
You're launching the chair in Milan and then in NYC at the design shows. When will the general public get a chance to have seat?
Design Within Reach will begin retail sales the middle of May. Shipments will start the first week in June.
I must admit I am a giant Emeco fan and I adore almost everything in your collection. So I know how hard this question is, but, if you had to choose, what is your favorite chair in the Emeco catalog?
This is like asking a parent who is their favorite child…I love all my children equally.
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Emeco's 111 Navy Chair
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What is the anticipate wholesale/retail cost?
it's $230 retail at dwr.com beginning in May.
There is no doubt that 111 Navy Emeco is one of the most iconic cutting edge designs of mid century furniture.The advanced technological materials and the historical background of this classic design made this iconic piece of furniture internationally famous and popular choice.
Okay, so this article is a classic example of how you guys continually fail, IMO, your "fruit bowl manifesto" of making modern design livable and accessible to the masses. This chair is made from recycled plastic and basically is a resin chair like you'd find at Wal-Mart for 20 bucks but with a different shape/design. It gets squirted into mold, pops out, is cleaned up, and shipped out. Yet they sell it for $230. Are you kidding me? Who pays $230 for a plastic chair?! We all know what that's going to look like after a couple summers in the hot sun and weather - faded, getting brittle, as all plastics do. "Design Within Reach" is the biggest oxymoron I've ever heard of. In reach of whom? Certainly not my partner and I and we both make over six figures. I might have money but I'm not a fool. So, I went to Emeco's website thinking I could find a better deal there. No such luck. The original aluminum chair, which I *might* consider paying $230 for (though I doubt it) is $440. Over $1000 if I want it polished. It takes 3 times the price to run a buffer over it?! Not only will I not pay that price, but it makes me sick that this is called a "Navy" chair because our military has been buying them since 1944. Great, there go my tax dollars. What a waste. Ya'll need to start thinking about real people once in a while. Where are the school teachers that enjoy modernism? The garbage collectors, office workers, secretaries, carpenters, and all the rest of us that live on a real wage and don't like to waste our money on overpriced stuff? Thanks!!!
@Ryan: I understand your frustration with what might seem on the outset to be "overpriced" goods. However, comparing this chair to one you might buy at Wal*mart is an unfair comparison. What do you think a chair like this should actually cost? While the material maybe similar, the way in which the factories are run, the price the workers are paid, and the cost of actual manufacturing are drastically different—these chairs are American made by skilled workers to high standards (at least the metal ones are). Now, while the price of name brand modern furniture has headed towards "luxury good" and away from "everyday purchase," the aluminum version of the Navy chair is basically indestructible, incredibly comfortable, and could be the last kitchen or outdoor chair you buy, making that $450/chair potentially a sound investment. Presumably this is what it costs for Emeco to buy the aluminum, make the chair, pay their workers, and make some profit—the goal of any sound business. The problem I see is that we Americans have drastically changed how we decide to select the goods we buy, focusing on lowest possible price above all else.
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