Market Method: A Star Is Reborn

Karen D. Singh, Alexia Brue, and Sheila Kim-Jamet -- Interior Design, 9/1/2008 12:00:00 AM

There's no doubt that Swiss industrial designer Hans Coray is best known for the Landi chair, a 1938 icon that sits proudly among the holdings of New York's Museum of Modern Art and Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. What's not so well known is that Coray later improved upon his design. In the 1950's, he created a prototype that, never produced, was then seemingly lost—at least until Proform Italia resurrected the plans to produce a faithful rendition.

The identical seat and back of ano dized aluminum are supported by a frame of stainless steel that's plated in zinc or chrome. (In either case, the metal is entirely recyclable.) The featherweight of the chair, about 6 to 8 pounds, allows it to stack easily for transport back and forth between indoors and out. Of course, theItalians have softened the original's Swiss austerity with indoor-only versions, too: Specify the frame in chromed steel and the seat and back in either leather or ebonized plywood. 39-521-235-5823; proformitalia.it. circle 432