Frank Owen Gehry, Hat Trick Chair for Knoll International

FRANK OWEN GEHRY (Toronto, 1929) for Knoll International.
Hat Trick Chair with armrests, 1990 design.
Construction of interwoven curved maple slats.
Chair with marks and signs of use due to its age.
Manufactured by Knoll International, USA, with mark stamp from here 1996.
Measurements: 85 x 59 x 56 cm. Seat height: 45 cm.

Frank Gehry came to Knoll in 1989 with the idea of creating a new generation of bentwood furniture inspired by the simple bushel basket. After three years of experimentation and exploration, the collection was presented in the exhibition Frank Gehry: New Furniture Prototypes at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Each piece is named after a field hockey term, such as Power Play, Cross Check and Hat Trick. Inspired by the surprising strength of the apple crates he played in as a child, Frank Gehry created his totally original collection of bentwood furniture. The ribbon-like designs transcend the conventions of style by exploring, as did the great modernists, the essential challenge of deriving form from function.

Frank Gehry was admitted to the Harvard Graduate School of Design to study urbanism. When he returned to Los Angeles, he rejoined Gruen, where he remained until 1960. In 1961 he moved to Paris, where he worked in the studio of André Rémondet. He remained in the French capital for a year, during which time he studied the works of Le Corbusier and other French and European architects, as well as existing Romanesque churches in France. In 1962 Gehry returned to Los Angeles and opened his architectural practice in Los Angeles. With magnificent buildings such as the Guggenheim Bilbao Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the new Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, Gehry has changed the nature and spirit of contemporary architecture. However, the world's best-known living architect has also enjoyed a prolific career as a designer of artistic and functional objects, from furniture to jewelry, that even on a smaller scale are as vivid and captivating as his architectural designs.
In 1972, Gehry introduced a series of corrugated cardboard furniture under the name Easy Edges. The Easy Edges were a huge success and brought Gehry overnight fame as a furniture designer. Frank Gehry has taught at several U.S. art academies, design schools and universities, and in 2011 he became a professor at the University of Southern California, where he has received several honorary doctorates.