Frank Gehry’s Legendary Wiggle Chair Started With a Pile of Scrap Cardboard
The architect’s celebrated Easy Edges collection is a delightful example of turning someone else’s trash into treasure.
Throughout the 1960s, furniture designers played around with cardboard, but the lightweight and durable nature of plastic was hard to top. Explorations of cardboard were waning, when, in the early ’70s, Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry released the Easy Edges collection.
The starting point was a pile of corrugated cardboard Gehry saw on the street outside of his office. "I began to play with it, to glue it together, and to cut it into shapes with a hand saw and a pocket knife," he later said, calling corrugated cardboard his preferred material for building architecture models. While other designers had been using single pieces of cardboard reinforced with folds, slots, or tabs, Gehry’s innovations resulted in a sturdy, long-lasting material. "I discovered that by alternating the direction of layers of corrugations, the finished board had enough strength to support a small car, and a uniform, velvety texture on all four sides," Gehry told the Christian Science Monitor. "I found I could cut these edgeboard sections into geometrical forms, or bend them into sculptural, ribbon-candy folds." Glued together, the alternating strips of corrugated cardboard offered new possibilities for cardboard furniture that was low-cost and, as a bonus, impressively sound absorbing.
Despite the popularity of Frank Gehry’s Easy Edges collection (1969-1973), the architect halted production of the corrugated cardboard furniture line a few years after it launched, ceding the rights to Vitra in 1986. The Wiggle Side Chair is one of a few models from the collection that’s still in production.
Courtesy Vitra Design Museum
When Easy Edges launched in 1972, the series of curved, corrugated cardboard tables and seating garnered immediate attention. The centerpiece was the Wiggle Side Chair. Its twisted lines with a previously inconceivable construction technique signified a striking departure from the cardboard furniture designed in the preceding years.
Overnight, Gehry became a sensation. But, instead of enjoying his success, Gehry was concerned that his furniture designs would overshadow his work as an architect. Gehry stopped production of the Easy Edges collection in 1973 and quit cardboard furniture altogether by 1982, eventually ceding rights to Vitra. That relationship turned out to be fruitful: just a few years later, the architect went on to design the Vitra Design Museum and manufacturing facility in Weil-am-Rhein, Germany.
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Vitra Wiggle Side Chair
Only an architect like Frank Gehry could have come up with the Vitra Wiggle Side Chair. As unusual as this sculptural snaky seat looks, where it really sets itself apart is with its materials: layers of corrugated cardboard faced in natural hardboard. While the curves appear delicate, their stacked configuration ensures absolute strength and stability. Part of Gehry's 1972 "Easy Edges" series. Photo Courtesy of Archiproducts
ShopVitra Wiggle Stool
The Vitra Wiggle Stool is so curvaceous and soft-looking, you might never guess that it's actually made out of cardboard. Created by Frank Gehry as part of his 1972 "Easy Edges" series, the Wiggle Stool was engineered to take full advantage of the strength and the visual appeal of corrugated cardboard, and is finished on either side by smooth natural hardboard. Photo Courtesy of Vitra
ShopVitra Atlas of Furniture Design
The Atlas of Furniture Design is the most comprehensive overview of the history of furniture design ever published. The book documents 1,740 objects by 546 designers and 565 manufacturers, and features more than 2,500 images, from detailed object photographs to historical documentation such as interiors, patents, brochures and reference works in art and architecture. Several years in the making, the Atlas of Furniture Design has employed a team of 71 authors and features in-depth essays providing sociocultural and design-historical context to the history of furniture design, as well as 551 detailed texts accompanying key objects. The book is enriched by a detailed annex containing designer biographies, bibliographies, a glossary of manufacturers and an index, along with information graphics offering a complementary visual approach to the history of furniture design. The Atlas of Furniture Design is both an encyclopedic reference tool and an indispensable resource for collectors, scholars and experts, as well as a beautifully designed object that speaks to design enthusiasts around the globe.
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This article was originally published on March 9, 2015. It was updated on April 25, 2024, to include current information.
Top photo courtesy of Hans Hansen
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