Developed in collaboration with the Aluminum Company of America in 1944 by Wilton C. Dinges, the Emeco 1006 Navy Chair is one of the most iconic chairs in the history of industrial design. Initially designed for the Navy submarines during WWII as a chair that could withstand the rigors of life at sea—including a torpedo blast—it has since become a mainstay in high-end restaurants and the catalogs of discerning interior designers. To date, more than one million of the chairs have been manufactured over the last half-century.
In all, over 77 steps are used in the process to turn ordinary aluminum into the extraordinarily strong chair. These include forming, welding, grinding, heat-treating, finishing, and anodizing. Perhaps most impressive is the chair design utilizes no hardware in whatsoever:
More recently, French illustrator Jean Jullien and his animator brother Nicolas to create a film documenting the brand’s fascinating 75-year history—starting with the iconic Navy chair and ending with the brand’s more recent 1 Inch chair launched last year.
Find out more about the Emeco brand and their full product lineup here.
