The first time I heard about The Chair was from a technician at an LCD Soundsystem show in the Queens borough of New York. A colleague had told him about it earlier in the week and, delighted with a few espresso martinis, he ordered the chair for himself that evening for a cool $7,000. I later mentioned the episode to a friend, expressing disbelief at how much someone would impulsively pay for a piece of furniture that I only remembered as “a chair that’s also at MoMA or something.” She knew its name, the Herman Miller Eames lounge chair and ottoman, and said she knew someone else who owned one – a financier. Oh, and come to think of it, there was another tech who had it too.
I had come across a real phenomenon: guys really like this chair. “I’m convinced that the majority of guys wake up and go to work so they can one day afford that chair in their living room,” said one Twitter user/X. wrote this month in a viral post accompanied by a photo of the chair.
Mid-century modern has been in vogue for two decades, and for a certain type of design curious, the Eames chair has become the go-to piece. Research interest in the product has grown in recent years, and while Herman Miller won’t disclose sales figures, Amy Auscherman, director of global archives and brand heritage at MillerKnoll, Herman’s parent company Miller, said she could “confidently say” that was the case. sell more than ever.
The guys literally only want one thing, and it’s apparently this very expensive leather-bound lounge chair. (Or one of the plethora of cheap knockoffs.)
“The Eames chair is basically a meme status,” said Joel Vanderveen, a 35-year-old from Minnesota who about a decade ago created a subreddit dedicated to all things Eames. “It’s like, ‘Hey, I’m a guy. I live alone. I make a lot of money. I want my house to look nice for various reasons. Oh, what’s this chair? I’ll get it .I can spend this money.
The Eames lounge chair and ottoman were created by the 20th century design duo Charles and Ray Eames and launched by Herman Miller, now under MillerKnoll, in 1956. They are mass-produced, but are not priced to suit the general public – a new chair and ottoman will cost you $7,395, plus tax and shipping. The Eamses were dismayed by the chair’s high price, Pat Kirkham, a professor of design history at Kingston University in London and author of a book about the couple, told me, calling it “miserably expensive “. The pair had many designs, but the lounge chair is by far the most recognizable.
“Until the last 10 years, when people told me they had an Eames chair, I never knew which one they were talking about,” Kirkham said.
The Eames was meant to be an updated version of a 19th-century English club chair with the warm, welcoming look of a well-worn baseball glove. And even though the chair wasn’t created with the “For Dudes” stamp, after nearly 70 years of marketing and cultivation, it has developed quite a reputation.
“They didn’t present it as particularly masculine, but I think it was advertised and promoted with more men,” Kirkham said.
The chair first appeared in the pages of men’s magazines in the ’60s and eventually made its way into popular culture: it could be spotted in the sitcom “Frasier” in the ’90s.
“It was always interesting, even funny, to me that the chair was featured early on in Playboy magazine as a status symbol in some ways,” Auscherman said.
We feel cool in it. You feel like you’re the boss of the house.
This status symbol status persists. For men of a certain age – and the size of a bank account – the chair means they have “made it”. It’s classic enough to convey a sense of style, even if it’s a bit cliché. The Eames Lounge Chair is a high-quality, coveted luxury item, something that looks great in person, on Instagram, or in the background of a Zoom call.
“You feel cool there. You feel like you’re the boss of the house. And because it’s expensive, it’s ambitious because it takes up a lot of space,” said Julia Mack, architect of interior in Brooklyn, New York.
It’s an obvious choice for design-conscious men and men who aren’t. Black leather, wooden base, place it in a living room or home office, and voilà, a trendy piece.
“Men can be unsure of what they want, especially when they’re single, and if they know that piece is iconic and enduring, it’s an easy choice,” Jennifer Jones, senior designer at Niche Interiors in San. Francisco, said.
It was indeed a bachelor party for Kyle, a 39-year-old hedge fund guy from Brooklyn who agreed to speak with me on the condition that I omit his last name in case he sounded ” silly “. He wanted the Eames chair forever, and after years of seeing it on Tumblr and in design blogs, he finally bought it in 2021, right after a breakup.
“I don’t think it’s any stretch of the imagination that I’m obsessed with this, which is kind of sad and pathetic,” he told me. “But every time I passed by a Design Within Reach store, I always had to stop, sit in the chair and tell myself that one day, when I did, I would finally have one.”
He compares it to a Rolex or a Porsche, where some people want it because it looks cool or is a status symbol, while others are “purists and absolute lunatics” obsessed with details . According to him, the Eames chair is one of those rare luxury products that meets all these conditions, both for novices and experts. He appreciates the craftsmanship and knows it’s something he will keep for a long time.
“It’s the same as a nice dining table, a nice sofa or a piece of art on your wall, but it has a certain functionality,” he said.
I don’t think it’s any stretch of the imagination that I’m obsessed with this, which is kind of sad and pathetic.
Zak Cole, a 36-year-old who lives in Nashville and is managing partner at venture capital studio Web3, wasn’t worried about looking stupid. He told me he had intended to sound “pretentious” in our conversation about the chair, but then I caught him while he was driving and we just had to have a real conversation. He was working in set design in Los Angeles, where he saw this used to convey a sense of refinement on sets, and he purchased one for his home office around spring 2021. He loves the history, the quality , and aesthetics, and it doesn’t hurt that people comment on it when they see it in the background of video calls.
“I think it’s just reminiscent of a bygone era, and a lot of people are sold on that entrepreneurial mindset. And having that type of chair is kind of an indicator of success,” he said. “Almost everything you get these days is Wayfair or something, or Ikea. It’s all throwaway garbage. And no one pays much attention to design. It’s like it’s all fashion fast, fast food, fast, fast furniture.”
Not everyone who owns an Eames chair owns a new one, an expensive chair, or even a real one. As part of this story, I came across a few guys who had inherited them – one from his grandfather in Michigan in the ’60s, another from his father in Minnesota, who traded it for some baseball suits. his clothing store in the 80s. Some people had bought them at a discount – one because he was an architect, Kyle because his ex-girlfriend knew someone who got 50% off and the breakup happened at amicable. Shawn Pasternak, a 31-year-old researcher in Washington, bought a $1,500 knockoff last year when he moved into his one-bedroom apartment. He still considers it an “aspirational adult purchase.”
“I obviously saw the Herman Miller option at $7,500, and then I saw others at different price points that looked basically functionally the same. And so to me, it wasn’t a question of ‘I need the most expensive model,'” he said. said.
None of the men I spoke to could exactly identify Why they wanted the chair – it’s aspirational, it’s nice, it’s comfortable, but not as comfortable as a sofa or a La-Z-Boy. The Eames chair also seems eco-friendly: they won’t throw it away in two years. Some have mentioned that it could be an investment. Many of them had purchased these chairs during or after the pandemic, at a time when many people had money to spend, nowhere to spend it, and were spending enormous amounts of time at home.
“I think that kind of awareness of your interiors has definitely become more prevalent during the pandemic. And it also coincided with some people having extra money to invest in these pieces for their home that – I I mean, they’re iconic, they’re well made and they’re heirlooms,” Auscherman said.
I would like to say that it’s not an ambitious thing, and it’s not that superficial. But it’s probably a little.
Derek Guy, a writer and commentator on men’s clothing, said he thinks Eames fandom among men is a mix of those who like mid-century modern stuff and those who just want to conform. The trend largely fits into a broader contemporary, vaguely hipster aesthetic.
“All of those things sort of signaled either a certain sort of middle class, white liberal Democrat, to be honest, or that HENRY — high-income, not-yet-rich — lifestyle,” Guy said. “And for many, that’s quite aspirational. It’s a status signal.”
The ubiquity and recognizability of the Eames chair may make it less desirable to some. Consumers attracted to luxury items often appreciate rare things, which is not the case with the chaise longue. Loren Kreiss, a Los Angeles interior designer who expressed his distaste for the Eames chair on social media, told me he was “totally over it.” In his opinion, it’s too common to justify a high price if it’s authentic, and if you get a copy, it’s too basic.
“We’ve seen enough Eames chairs to last 20 lifetimes,” he said. “If it’s a family heirloom or you find a vintage piece, that’s a whole different story. But if you’re just considering spending too much or buying a knockoff, I’m in the ‘ we don’t care’. Say more with less.”
Young men, especially those with higher incomes, have good purchasing power. As many of them marry later or forgo buying a house, they also have money to spend. Some of them invest their money in gambling, while others invest in a fancy leather chair that gives off a “Mad Men” vibe.
Kyle is overall happy with his Eames purchase. His new girlfriend likes it and her dog knows not to mess with it. He must make a conscious effort to sit there; otherwise he forgets. It’s not as comfortable as the couch, and the idea that it would allow him to read more didn’t pan out.
“I would like to say that it’s not an ambitious thing, and it’s not that superficial,” he said. “But it’s probably a little bit.”
Emilie Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and economics.
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