Josef Hoffmann unveiled the extravagant Model No. 371, also known as the Seven Ball Chair, in his Kleines Landhaus for the 1908 Wiener Kunstschau, which was an attempt to create a universally available and affordable *Gesamtkunstwerk*. The use of industrially manufactured furniture was one way of reducing costs. Hoffmann mainly used bentwood furniture for his model house, most of them based on own designs.They also included seating groups with Model No. 371 benches and chairs arranged in the loggia.
The Seven Ball Chair is in fact a continuation of Hoffmann’s Purkersdorf Chair of 1904. The design of the backrest tested the limits of the bentwood technique, making for a solution as allusive as it was beautiful. Just as the two arches resemble shoulders, the spherical elements present a rather literal interpretation of the backrest as vertebra. The English-style saddle-shaped seat makes up for what this particular backrest might lack in comfort.
Hoffmann’s drastically reduced, almost sculptural chair turns an item of everyday use into a work of art. It is thus a shining example of the architect’s intention of permeating everyday life with art. The chair is also typical of the Viennese style, which stands out on account of its playful, ambiguous elements. Decades later, these and other properties would attract postmodern designers to both Hoffmann’s and Koloman Moser’s work.
Text: Anne-Katrin Rossberg
