Style: July 01, 2019

32 STYLE | home
Who?
Ross Morrison, owner of Mr Mod and midcentury
furniture expert.
What?
LCM (Lounge Chair Metal) moulded
plywood chair, designed by Charles &
Ray Eames in the 1940s, sometimes
called the ‘potato chip’ chair. Born from
technologies the husband and wife used
in the Second World War when they
worked for the military making surgical
splints out of laminated veneer. The Eames
then pioneered the moulding of plywood
in making furniture for the masses. They
spent two and a half years in production,
perfecting a virtually indestructible chair
designed to follow the body’s contours.
The original design is still manufactured
today by Vitra and Herman Miller.
Why I love it?
I really like the simplicity of the design, the
comfort, and that it was one of the first
pieces they designed. It was so advanced,
though the Eames name is pretty up there
in the world of mid-century furniture now.
When you look at the 1940s and what else
was being produced, it was way ahead of
its time.
It’s also one of the most comfortable
chairs, even though it’s got a very firm
seat and back – you can tell the difference
between this, which is an original, and a
fake, which they make in China, by sitting
on this. You can sit on this for hours,
whereas the other ones are far too hard
because the design is wrong.
It’s got really nice patina, it’s unrestored,
it’s laminated ash so you can see the grain
even though it’s ebonised. It’s stamped with
LCM underneath, has the original metal feet
and equally inventive rubber shock mounts
flexing between the ply and metal frame.
When and where did you get it?
I’ve had it for 13 or 14 years. Bought off a
friend in California and he got it from an
architect’s house in the Oakland Hills. It
probably sat in the same house until I got it.