{{Short description|Chair designed by Ron Arad}} {{Infobox furniture | name = Rover chair | image = Rover Chair leather at Barbican London 2010 Ron Arad.jpg | caption = Chair exhibited at the Barbican Art Gallery, London, 2010 | designer = Ron Arad | date = 1981 (United Kingdom) | materials = Steel frame, leather car seat | style = Postmodernist | sold_by = Vitra (Switzerland) | height = {{convert|78|cm|in|abbr=on}} | width = {{convert|69|cm|in|abbr=on}} | depth = {{convert|92|cm|in|abbr=on}} }} The '''Rover chair''' is the first piece of furniture designed by industrial designer Ron Arad. It was made in 1981 as a fusion of two readymades and launched Arad's career. The chair is a postmodernist design, combining a car seat with a structural tubing frame.
== History ==
Arad had left his employment with a firm of architects,<ref name="creativepool fountain">{{cite web|last=Fountain|first=John|title='Rover Chair' by Ron Arad|url=http://blogs.creativepool.co.uk/blog/rover-chair-by-ron-arad/|work=Creativepool Blog|accessdate=19 June 2012}}</ref> and obtained the parts to make the chair from a scrapyard in Chalk Farm, London.<ref name="creativepool fountain" /><ref name="telegraph gleadell 2009">{{cite news|last=Gleadell|first=Colin|title=Ron Arad: the designer who redrew the borders|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/artsales/5078224/Ron-Arad-the-designer-who-redrew-the-borders.html|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=30 March 2009}}</ref> The readymade<ref name="artnet manson">{{cite news|last=Manson|first=Neil|title=Chairmaster|url=http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/reviews/manson/manson5-25-05.asp|accessdate=20 June 2012|newspaper=artnet|date=25 May 2005}}</ref> chair was the first piece of furniture he produced.<ref name="bmivoyager cohen">{{cite web|last=Cohen|first=Tobi|title=Design of the times|url=http://www.bmivoyager.com/2009/11/01/design-of-the-times/|work=BMI Voyager|publisher=British Midland International|accessdate=19 June 2012}}</ref><ref name="idfxmagazine burnett 2010">{{cite news|last=Burnett|first=Kate|title=Ron Arad|url=http://www.idfxmagazine.com/features/ron-arad/|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=idfx|date=11 March 2010}}{{dead link|date=April 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
The red<ref name="calitreview ciuraru">{{cite news|last=Ciuraru|first=Carmela|title=Ron Arad: No Discipline at MoMA|url=http://calitreview.com/4513|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=California Literary Review|date=17 August 2009}}</ref><ref name=confessionsofadesigngeek>{{cite web|last=Treggiden|first=Katie|title=out and about :: ron arad restless|url=http://confessionsofadesigngeek.com/2010/04/18/ron-arad-restless-at-the-barbican/|work=confessionsofadesigngeek|accessdate=19 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511011418/http://confessionsofadesigngeek.com/2010/04/18/ron-arad-restless-at-the-barbican/|archive-date=11 May 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> leather seat is from a Rover P6<ref name="telegraph baxter 2001">{{cite news|last=Baxter|first=Andrew|title=Any old iron|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/4750353/Any-old-iron.html|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=The Daily telegraph|date=19 May 2001}}</ref><ref name="nytimes browne 2009">{{cite news|last=Browne|first=Alix|title=Radical Chic|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/style/tmagazine/16arad.html|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=T: The New York Times Style Magazine|date=19 August 2009}}</ref> and is housed in a black<ref name="ft heathcote 2010">{{cite news|last=Heathcote|first=Edwin|title=Ron Arad at Barbican Art Gallery|url=https://www.ft.com/content/55b53578-21ae-11df-acf4-00144feab49a|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=Financial Times|date=27 February 2010}}</ref> painted curved steel frame made from a Kee Klamp milking stall.<ref name="creativepool fountain" /><ref name="calitreview ciuraru" /><ref name="telegraph baxter 2001" /> Later exhibited pieces had epoxy lacquered frames.<ref name="centrepompidou">{{cite web|title=Ron Arad: www.c No Discipline|url=http://www.centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ENS-ronarad-EN/ENS-ronarad-EN.html|work=Exhibition trails|publisher=Centre Pompidou|accessdate=19 June 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621235338/http://www.centrepompidou.fr/education/ressources/ENS-ronarad-EN/ENS-ronarad-EN.html|archivedate=21 June 2012}}</ref> The frame provides both feet and arm rests.<ref name="artprice 2008">{{cite web|title=Ron Arad – the art of design|url=http://web.artprice.com/AMI/AMI.aspx?id=NDE1Mjk0NzY0ODQ5Nzk=|work=Artprice.com|accessdate=19 June 2012|date=December 2008}}</ref>
The Rover P6 is sometimes known as the 2000. Some reports of the chair refer to it being made using seats from the 200,<ref name="telegraph gleadell 2009" /><ref name="designmuseum 2007">{{cite web|title=Ron Arad: 25/25 – Celebrating 25 Years of Design|url=http://designmuseum.org/design/ron-arad|work=Design at the Design Museum|publisher=Design Museum|accessdate=19 June 2012}}</ref> P5<ref name=brightwells>{{cite web|title=Rover P5 Saloon MkIII|url=http://classiccars.brightwells.com/viewdetails.php?id=1029|work=Brightwells|accessdate=19 June 2012}}</ref> or 90.<ref name="c-artsmag soetriyono 2008">{{cite news|last=Soetriyono|first=Eddy|title=Ron Arad's Avant-garde Furniture Movement|url=http://-artsmag.com/articles/detail.php?Title=Ron%20Arad's%20Avant-garde%20Furniture%20Movement&articleID=9|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=C-Arts|date=18 January 2008}}</ref>
Furniture maker Joe Hall visited Arad's Covent Garden shop in the {{nowrap|mid-1980s}} and then collaborated with him to make further chairs. Hall scoured the country's scrapyards for P6 seats, which cost £5{{ndash}}15 each and were in excellent condition.<ref name="telegraph baxter 2001" />
The chairs sold for £99 each in 1981,<ref name="telegraph gleadell 2009" /> about three times the production cost.<ref name="creativepool fountain" /> Original chairs made by Arad's One Off company<ref name="nytimes browne 2009" /> have been auctioned by Christie's,<ref name="christies 1994">{{cite web | url=http://www.christies.com/lotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=3746893 | title=SALE 6533 LOT 127 | work=Christie's | date=25 May 1994 | accessdate=May 23, 2012}}</ref><ref name="christies 2001">{{cite web | url=http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=2050456 | title=SALE 9098 LOT 322 | work=Christie's | date=16 May 2001 | accessdate=May 23, 2012}}</ref> Bonhams,<ref name="bonhams 2011">{{cite web|title=Ron Arad for One Off Ltd, a 'Rover' chair, designed 1981|url=http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/18807/lot/71/|work=Auction 18807|publisher=Bonhams|accessdate=19 June 2012|date=13 April 2011}}</ref><ref name="bonhams 2012">{{cite web|title=Ron Arad for One Off Ltd|url=http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20166/lot/26/|work=Auction 20166|publisher=Bonhams|accessdate=19 June 2012|date=29 March 2012}}</ref> Bonhams & Butterfield<ref name="c-artsmag soetriyono 2008" /> and Göteborgs Auktionsverk.<ref name="hittaauktion 2011">{{cite web | url=http://www.hittaauktion.com/2011/11/goteborgs-auktionsverk-dags-for.html | title=Göteborgs Auktionsverk, Dags för kvalitetsauktion i Göteborg | work=hittaauktion.com | date=21 November 2011 | accessdate=May 23, 2012}}</ref><ref name="mynewsdesk 2011">{{cite web | url=http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/pressroom/goeteborgs-auktionsverk/image/view/kvalitetsauktion-28-november-2011-auktionsnummer-37-ron-arad-102136 | title=Göteborgs Auktionsverk – Kvalitetsauktion 28 november 2011. Auktionsnummer 37 – Ron Arad | work=mynewsdesk.com | date=16 November 2011 | accessdate=May 23, 2012}}</ref> Hundreds have been produced since 1981, fetching thousands of pounds at auctions at the turn of the century.<ref name="telegraph gleadell 2009" /><ref name="telegraph baxter 2001" /><ref name="designweek banks 2008">{{cite news|last=Banks|first=Tom|title=Street art bonanza at Phillips de Pury auction|url=http://www.designweek.co.uk/news/street-art-bonanza-at-phillips-de-pury-auction/1139566.article|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=Design Week|date=8 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203015503/http://www.designweek.co.uk/news/street-art-bonanza-at-phillips-de-pury-auction/1139566.article |archive-date=2013-12-03}}</ref> The success of the chair, which has become an icon,<ref name="designinfo villinger 2000">{{cite web|last=Villinger|first=Carina|title=Ron Arad – Before and After|url=http://www.designinfo.org/modules_004.html|work=designinfo|accessdate=19 June 2012}}</ref> launched Arad's career.<ref name="calitreview ciuraru" /><ref name="centrepompidou" /><ref name="wsj seno 2010">{{cite news|last=Seno|first=Alexandra A.|title=The Future of Industrial Design|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB126408892169132617|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=22 January 2010}}</ref><ref name="moma">{{citation|title=Biography|url=http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/ronarad/content/pdf/Ron_Arad-biography.pdf|publisher=Museum of Modern Art|accessdate=19 June 2012}}</ref> thumb|Rover two-seater (1985) The chairs were produced by One Off until 1989, and in 2008 were being produced by Vitra in two models.<ref name="artprice 2008" /> A two-seater version was auctioned in 2011.<ref name="hittaauktion 2011" /><ref name="mynewsdesk 2011" /> {{Clear}}
== Reception ==
Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier bought six chairs<ref name="creativepool fountain" /><ref name="telegraph gleadell 2009"/> in 1981. They also attracted the attention of furniture manufacturer Vitra.<ref name=centrepompidou/> The chair is recognised as a postmodernist design.<ref name="homesandproperty julius">{{cite web|last=Julius|first=Corinne|title=Postmodernism: the -ism with attitude|url=http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property_news/events_and_getaways/postmodernismtheismwithattitude.html|work=Homes & Property|accessdate=19 June 2012|date=19 September 2011|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317134643/http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property_news/events_and_getaways/postmodernismtheismwithattitude.html|archivedate=17 March 2012}}</ref>
A presenter of BBC Television's Top Gear sat on such a chair from 1988.<ref name="telegraph gleadell 2009"/> The chair also featured in a television advertisement for an unrelated product.<ref name="newstatesman aldersey-williams 2000">{{cite news|last=Aldersey-Williams|first=Hugh|authorlink=Hugh Aldersey-Williams|title=Professor of cool|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/node/137930|accessdate=19 June 2012|newspaper=New Statesman|date=19 June 2000}}</ref> Arad's own children were breast-fed on the chair.<ref name="wsj seno 2010"/>
== Exhibitions ==
The chair has formed part of various exhibitions, including those at London's Design Museum,<ref name="designmuseum 2007" /> Barbican Art Gallery,<ref name="ft heathcote 2010" /> Timothy Taylor Gallery,<ref name=timothytaylorgallery>{{cite web|title=Ron Arad|url=http://www.timothytaylorgallery.com/artists/work/ron-arad/rover-chair|work=Timothy Taylor Gallery|publisher=Timothy Taylor Gallery|accessdate=19 June 2012}}</ref> Paris's Centre Pompidou<ref name="centrepompidou" /><ref name="paris-art piettre 2008">{{cite web|last=Piettre|first=Céline|title=Ron Arad {{!}} Critique – No Discipline – Paris 4e. Centre Pompidou|url=http://www.paris-art.com/exposition-design/No%20Discipline/No%20Discipline/2922.html|work=parisART|accessdate=19 June 2012}}</ref> and New York's Museum of Modern Art.<ref name="calitreview ciuraru" /><ref name="moma" />
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
Category:Chairs Category:Postmodern art Category:Individual chairs