(Well, only the ones I liked of course.)
The earliest known form of Greek chair dates back to six or seven centuries before Christ!
We are still reinterpreting, and personalizing the classic design of the Greek Klismos Chair.
The collection is pretty edgy and fresh. You may recognize him from TV's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (fun show but only showed a teeny glimpse of his talent).
No one's ever sat on an original Greek klismos chair, because not one has actually survived. Its popularity peaked around 400 B.C., but it was resurrected in the 18th century, when all things classical were the fashion. Since then it's been perennially beloved. From the moment we first spied it on ancient Greek pots, the elegant klismos has been reproduced, reinvented, refreshed, and retailed. It's the most popular chair we've never seen.
What actually makes a chair a klismos chair?
Basically, it's the concave top rail that's curved to embrace the shoulders of the sitter, and those four incurved saber legs. Some chairs have vertical or horizontal back splats and some have none. Because this element is seldom visible in the Greek original, we don't quite know what's "right." There are many variants with perfectly straight front legs, too, but they look clunky.
Are they only available in wood?
Until recently, the klismos form was primarily made of wood, although metal examples do exist. During the 20th century, however, the chair was manufactured in any new material that came along, and I've recently seen some in lacquer with gold leaf, and in clear acrylic. Occasionally, you'll find an example that's fully upholstered. I'm doubtful that this can be called a klismos, since a traditional attribute of this chair is its portability.
This style chairs pairs with both traditional and modern styles, it simply depends on the specific reincarnation that strikes your fancy.
“I had three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society”
Henry David Thoreau
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