The chair's shape and interwoven fabric webbing were eventually refined and by the late 1950s, the Fredric Arnold Company was manufacturing more than 14,000 of these portable chairs each day from its Brooklyn factory. His original design in 1947 was more crude and less sturdy than today's metal folding chairs, but was it was influenced by the stripped-down utilitarian designs of the early mid-century modern period. A former P-38 combat fighter pilot named Fredric Arnold came up with the idea of streamlining an existing collapsible chair that had been used for decades in schools and churches. It was actually a WWII veteran turned inventor who designed the original lawn chair. Turns out, narrow aluminum tubing was great for making chairs. After the war, manufacturers sought other uses for the strong yet lightweight material. Aluminum production soared during the war, since it was used in the structural framing of military aircraft. The rise of this all-American staple coincided with the growth of suburbs after World War II, when homes with larger lawns were suddenly more affordable. I wonder how many Fourth of July fireworks have been admired from the webbed seat of a classic aluminum lawn chair? How many great summer memories from your youth are punctuated with the sound of those chairs being snapped open? Lightweight and durable, the portable chairs are carted to campouts and tailgates, backyard barbecues and beaches. Want to bring vintage style into your back-or front-yard? Here are eight options to shop right now.The folding lawn chair is an American summertime classic. We don't have plans of stashing these nostalgic gems away anytime soon. Portable, affordable, and compact, lawn chairs are practical for toting to your friend's backyard while also offering a larger dose of personality than your average camping chair. While it may not have the panache of an Eames lounger, the lawn chair has something better: status as the sidekick for your best summer memories. And it wasn't just utilitarian it was also sleek, paying homage to the early modernist movement (as did its all-metal cousin). With the postwar housing boom leaving many Americans with yard space to spare, Arnold decided to fashion a comfy, portable seat for alfresco hangouts. After World War II, a surplus of aluminum (used for aircraft) prompted many creatives, including Arnold, to find new uses for the lightweight metal. (In its prime, his company churned out around 14,000 of them a day.) It wasn't until the casual-furniture market usurped the practical but not plush folding seat that these picnic staples got relegated to the garage.īut if you understand the genius of the webbed chair as a smart, resourceful, and-yes-stylish specimen, you might rethink its placement. If you meandered down any suburban side street in the early sixties, you'd find a couple clinking cocktail glasses on their front lawn, perched in Arnold originals. It was 1956 when Arnold first patented his aluminum folding seat-aka the lawn chair-and it didn't take long for its appeal to grow. But there's something about those throwback metal and webbed lawn chairs that make them a close second in terms of coziness: nostalgia.įredric Arnold might not be a name that rings a bell for most Southerners, yet you would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't recognize the inventor's most memorable creation. We'll always love a good patio sofa and the buttery soft outdoor cushions that sit atop it. If there's one thing you'll never hear us complain about, it's the strides outdoor furniture has made toward becoming as indoors-like as possible.
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