Butterfly chair

{{short description|Type of chair}}

thumb|BKF Chair The '''butterfly chair''', also known as a ''BKF chair'' or ''Hardoy chair'', is a style of chair featuring a metal frame and a large sling hung from the frame's highest points, creating a suspended seat. The frame of the chair is generally painted black. The sling was originally leather,<ref name="harpers">{{cite magazine| last1 = Blake| first1 = Peter| last2 = McCullough| first2 = Jane Fiske| date = August 1958| title = very significant CHAIR| url = https://harpers.org/archive/1958/08/very-significant-chair/| magazine = Harper's Magazine| url-status = live| format = PDF| page= 69| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140718071519/http://harpers.org/archive/1958/08/very-significant-chair/| archive-date = 2014-07-18| access-date = 2018-02-14}} [https://archive.org/stream/harpersmagazine217julalde#page/n171/mode/2up Alt URL]</ref> but can also be made from canvas or other materials. The design is popular for portable recreational seating.

== History == The Butterfly chair was designed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1938<ref name="Postell2012">{{cite book |author=Postell |first=Jim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VEKpxZQYzloC&pg=SA6-PA153 |title=Furniture Design |date=9 October 2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-35318-9 |page=6}}</ref><ref name="Kennedy2017">{{cite book |author=Kennedy |first=Christopher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79x_DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT195 |title=Making Midcentury Modern |date=7 February 2017 |publisher=Gibbs Smith |isbn=978-1-4236-4650-1 |pages=195–6}}</ref> by the architects Antonio Bonet, Juan Kurchan and {{ill|Jorge Ferrari Hardoy|es}},<ref name=":0" /><ref name="landmarksbook">{{cite book| last1 = Hiesinger| first1 = Kathryn B.| last2 = Marcus| first2 = George H.| date = 1993| title = Landmarks of twentieth-century design : an illustrated handbook| location = New York| publisher = Abbeville Press| isbn = 1558592792| url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780789200082/page/142| pages = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780789200082/page/142 142]| access-date = 2018-02-14}}</ref><ref name="vitrachair">{{cite web |title=B.K.F. Chair/Hardoy Chair, Butterfly Chair, 1938 |url=http://collectiononline.design-museum.de/#/en/object/145419 |access-date=2018-02-14 |website=Vitra Design Museum}}</ref> who were working with Le Corbusier's studio, and who formed the architectural collective {{ill|Grupo Austral|es}} in Buenos Aires.<ref name="vitraaustral">{{cite web| url = http://collectiononline.design-museum.de/#/en/person/44922| title = Grupo Austral | website = Vitra Design Museum| access-date = 2018-02-14}}</ref> The chair was developed for an apartment building they designed in Buenos Aires.

On March 6, 1940, a picture of the chair appeared in the US publication ''Retailing Daily'', where it was described as a "newly invented Argentine easy-chair ... for siesta sitting".<ref name=harpers /> On July 24, 1940, the chair was awarded the 2nd prize by the National Cultural Commission<ref name="harvard-award">{{cite web| url = http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/xslTransform?histno=0&uniqueId=null&inoid=2782&eadid=des00006&xslFileName=FindingAid.xsl#des00006fD083dd| title = Ferrari Hardoy, Jorge, 1914–1977. The Ferrari Hardoy Archive: An Inventory| website = Special Collections, Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Design School| access-date = 2018-02-16}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> at the 3rd ''Salón de Artistas Decoradores'' exhibition in Argentina.<ref name=harpers /> Both the exhibition and the picture in ''Retailing Daily'' attracted the attention of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. At the request of the director of MoMA's Industrial Design Department, Edgar Kaufmann Jr., Hardoy sent three chairs to New York. One went to Fallingwater, Edgar Kaufmann Jr.'s home in Pennsylvania (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), another went to MoMA,<ref name=":0" /> while the third probably went to Clifford Pascoe of Artek-Pascoe, Inc., New York.<ref name="harvard-first-chairs">{{cite web| url = http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/xslTransform?histno=0&uniqueId=null&inoid=2782&eadid=des00006&xslFileName=FindingAid.xsl#des00006fD083h| title = Ferrari Hardoy, Jorge, 1914–1977. The Ferrari Hardoy Archive: An Inventory| website = Special Collections, Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Design School| access-date = 2018-02-16}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The chair gets the name of ''BKF chair'' from the initials of its creators, "Bonet-Kurchan-Ferrari". It is also known as the ''Hardoy chair'' because an official letter from the firm attributed primary authorship of the design to Ferrari-Hardoy{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}.

== Origins == The BKF chair is a revival of the Paragon chair (more recently known as the Tripolina chair), which was designed by Joseph Beverley Fenby and has been used as campaign furniture and camping furniture since the 1880s.<ref>{{Cite web|date=12 July 1881|title=J. B. Fenby, Folding Chair|url=https://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=00244216|access-date=2022-02-09|website=pdfpiw.uspto.gov}}</ref>

== Production == The chair was initially designed in Argentina.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Antonio Bonet, Juan Kurchan, Jorge Ferrari Hardoy. B.K.F. Chair. 1938 |url=https://www.moma.org/collection/works/4393 |access-date=2021-07-25 |website=Museum of Modern Art}}</ref> However, Edgar Kaufmann Jr. accurately predicted that it would become extremely popular in the US, calling it one of the "best efforts of modern chair design".<ref name="harvard-kaufmann">{{cite web| url = http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/xslTransform?histno=0&uniqueId=null&inoid=2782&eadid=des00006&xslFileName=FindingAid.xsl#des00006fE031| title = Ferrari Hardoy, Jorge, 1914–1977. The Ferrari Hardoy Archive: An Inventory| website = Special Collections, Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Design School| access-date = 2018-02-16}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In the early 1940s, it was produced in the US by Artek-Pascoe, Inc., New York.<ref name=":0" /> Production was slow due to wartime shortages of raw materials, including metal.<ref name="landmarksbook" />

After the war, the US production rights were acquired by Hans Knoll, who had recognized its commercial potential in 1947<ref name="harvard-knoll-interest">{{cite web| url = http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/xslTransform?histno=0&uniqueId=null&inoid=2782&eadid=des00006&xslFileName=FindingAid.xsl#des00006fE026| title = Ferrari Hardoy, Jorge, 1914–1977. The Ferrari Hardoy Archive: An Inventory| website = Special Collections, Frances Loeb Library, Harvard Design School| access-date = 2018-02-16}}{{Dead link|date=October 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and added it to the Knoll line.<ref name="nytmag">{{cite magazine| last1 = Greenbaum| first1 = Hilary| last2 = Rubinstein| first2 = Dana| date = 2012-03-09| title = Who Made That Butterfly Chair?| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/who-made-that-butterfly-chair.html| magazine = The New York Times Magazine| access-date = 2018-02-14}}</ref> The chair's commercial success led to a surge in unauthorized replicas. After losing a legal case for design infringement, Knoll ceased production in 1951.

Since then, versions of the butterfly chair have continued to be produced by many manufacturers from various countries.

In 2018, Knoll rereleased an 80th anniversary tribute to the ''Butterfly Chair''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Salone 2018 Butterfly Chair |url=https://www.knoll-int.com/salone-2018-butterfly-chair |access-date=2023-02-09 |website=Knoll}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Chairs Category:Individual models of furniture Category:Portable furniture Category:Argentine inventions Category:Furniture designed by architects