Hans Bellmann’s Einpunkt Chair was created around the same time as Arne Jacobsen’s Ant. It counts among the first chairs to have a seat shell made of a single piece of multiply bent, moulded plywood. Its most striking formal feature is the cut-out section of the tapered backrest which doubles as a handle. With its trapezoid shape forming an upside-down version of the backrest itself, it narrows towards the bottom and extends slightly into the surface of the seat. Bellmann’s creation owes its name – Einpunkt translates literally as ‘one point’ – to the fact that the four chair legs are bent over into a cross at the top and connected to the shell by a single screw inserted into the chrome-plated disc sunk into the middle of the seat. Pre-tensioning and four spacers welded onto the frame for additional stability keep the seat firmly in place. The Schweizerischer Werkbund awarded the chair its ‘Die gute Form’ prize in 1954, and for many years it was one of the most successful modern chair designs in Switzerland.
Text: Claude Lichtenstein
