Wooden Chair
Made by Cappellini
Marc Newson designed the Wooden Chair for Cappellini in 1988, early in a career that would come to define a generation of industrial design. The piece arrived fully formed: a continuous shell of bent beech heartwood that reads as sculpture before it reads as furniture.
The form follows the logic of the material. Bent wood allows curves that solid timber cannot, and Newson exploited this property to create a silhouette that appears almost impossibly light. Support comes through geometry rather than bulk, relying on the natural strength of beech grain running through each arc.
- Shell constructed from bent beech heartwood
- Petite armchair scale, suited to intimate or gallery-like settings
- A recognized icon of late twentieth-century industrial design
- Produced by Cappellini
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Wooden Chair
Frequently Asked Questions
What wood is used in the Cappellini Wooden Chair?
The chair is constructed from bent beech heartwood. Beech is chosen for its consistent grain and flexibility under steam-bending, which allows the continuous curved shell that defines the design.
When did Marc Newson design the Wooden Chair?
Newson designed the Wooden Chair in 1988, while still in his twenties. It was one of his first pieces to receive international attention and remains in production through Cappellini.
Is the Wooden Chair structurally sound despite its delicate appearance?
Yes. The form derives its strength from the geometry of the bent wood shell and the natural structural properties of beech. The curves distribute load in a way that makes mass unnecessary.
How does the Wooden Chair fit within Marc Newson's broader body of work?
Newson's practice is unusually wide-ranging, covering aircraft interiors, bicycles, watches, and public spaces. The Wooden Chair represents his approach at its most concentrated: a single material, a single gesture, no ornament.
What settings suit the Cappellini Wooden Chair?
Its compact scale and sculptural quality make it well suited to residential living rooms, design-focused offices, and gallery or hospitality environments where individual pieces are given room to be read as objects.
