The Ball Chair was designed by Eero Aarnio in 1963 and presented at the International Furniture Fair in Cologne in 1966, and it became Aarnio’s international breakthrough. Eero Aarnio has always been fascinated by new materials and round shapes – one of his favourite materials is fibreglass, which gives the chair a free, elastic shape. The round shell of the Ball Chair is simple yet ingenious, and has often been referred to as a “room in a room”.
The Ball Chair is one of the best-known classics of Finnish design, even though its modernist, futuristic design differs from the natural and minimalist Scandinavian design traditions. The Ball Chair can be found in the collections of design museums around the world, and during the decades it has been featured in numerous movies, music videos and magazine covers.
The iconic piece is upholstered with Kvadrat’s fabrics and comes in an array of colour combinations.
Aarnio’s creations are present in the collections of numerous museums worldwide – including the Victoria and Albert Hall Museum in London, the MoMA in New York, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris – and he has won many prestigious international design awards, such as the Red Dot Design Award and the Compasso d’Oro Design Award.