The story of the Diamond Chair’s creation began in 1949 with a carte blanche offered by the furniture manufacturers Hans and Florence Knoll to designer and artist Harry Bertoia. He was asked to ‘come east and work on any designs or sculpture he wished.’ In 1950, Bertoia moved to Pennsylvania with his family and commenced work on sculptures and furniture. Over the course of the design process he experimented with mesh structures and produced numerous sketches and models. Finally, a protruding bowl-shaped structure emerged from the wire, giving the impression of a square wire mesh that had been deformed three-dimensionally under the weight of a seated person, thereby pulling it into the diamond shape that gives the chair its name.
In December 1952, the chair was part of a whole series of wire seating which was presented for the first time, along with Bertoia’s metal sculptures, in the New York showroom of Knoll Associates. Reactions were enthusiastic. The complex and labour-intensive serial production of the chairs began in 1953 and continues to this day. The wires are bent and welded manually using an assembly jig, the seat’s shell is bound together with the underframe using four shock mounts to restrict the swinging motion. Due to its lightness, elegance and the memorable sculptural impression it leaves, the Diamond Chair remains probably the best-known seating furniture designed out of wire.
Text: Mathias Remmele
