Frank Gehry

FRANK O. GEHRY (Toronto, 1929–Santa Monica, 2025) for Vitra.
Easy Edges Side Chair, designed 1969–1972
Laminated corrugated cardboard.
In good condition, with slight wear consistent with its age and use.
Measurements: 82.5 × 36 × 56 cm.

The Easy Edges Side Chair is part of the series through which Gehry explored the structural possibilities of cardboard. The layering and gluing of numerous sheets transform a humble, everyday material into a solid, lightweight, and fully functional structure. The Metropolitan Museum holds an example designed in 1969 and manufactured in 1971, while MoMA also documents versions dated 1970 and 1972.

Its profile is formed by continuous planes and sweeping curves that connect the legs, the seat, and the high backrest. The absence of ornamentation draws attention to the layered texture of the cardboard and to a silhouette with a strong architectural character.

Gehry thus transformed a material typically associated with packaging into a design piece with a strong sculptural presence, foreshadowing his later interest in folded surfaces and dynamic structures. Works from this series are part of the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.