bungee cord chair Rene Herbst

Recently we’ve been noodling around with the idea of with making a Murphy Bed with a lift-system of bungee cords. We haven’t heard of such a thing, but having seen the realm of industrial bungees available, thought it might be possible.

Then, with the simultaneity we’ve come to expect when we have an idea, we stumbled on some images of beautiful bungee cord chairs designed by René Herbst, a contemporary of Robert Mallet-Stevens and Le Corbusier, in the 1930’s. They illustrated the part of our idea that had been eluding us: how to make our improvised solution be visually appealing as well as practical, two qualities we strive for in all of our home improvisations (travel and emergencies are another matter):

Bungee cord chair 2 Rene Herbst
We’ve come across more recent bungee cord chairs that don’t have the elegance of Herbst’s.
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We realized that the Lafuma Recliner, a classic French beach chair that we love, may have its roots in the bungee: strong elastic cords hold the mesh seating to the frame, making it mold to your body, and incredibly comfortable. You can position it from sitting upright to laying almost flat for a zero-gravity effect.

 

LaFuma beach chair white

 

All these chairs have in common a frame of tubular steel (although you could use wood), drilled with holes into which bungee cords are hooked: in our view a fine formula for improvising.

 

Stay-tuned for more on our improvised pull-out wall bed…

As for books about Herbst work, we’ve heard that Rene Herbst (French Edition) is fab but costs a steep $140, used. We might check out the more recent Rene Herbst: Pioneer of Modernism.

 via Mondoblogo

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One thought on “bungee cord chairs + furniture (rene herbst)

  1. Bungee cords can be very dangerous if they break. Is there some safeguard in the design of this furniture to prevent someone losing an eye?

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