Le Corbusier chaise longue: the architect Jeanneret-Gris

Lc4 chaise longue: design icon

The Le Corbusier Lc4 chaise longue is probably the most famous armchair in the history of design. Today we know it as a reclining armchair with a steeply inclined backrest and an extended seat for leg support.

A perfect balance between purity, geometry and corporeity, the chaise longue has almost a century of history, between the first prototypes and their evolutions. Let’s discover how the chaise longue was born and who its inventor was.

The history of the Chaise longue

At the origin of this domestic project is another armchair that originated from Austrian production in the workshop of Thonet and Jacob & Josef Kohn. It was a bentwood armchair with or without armrests that appeared in the Thonet catalogue in 1897.

It was the original version that inspired Le Corbusier. The first prototypes with metal frames began to be produced in his studio, but at first they were considered cold and expensive and not suitable for domestic environments. Due to the high price, certainly, the proposal is for high-end yet still domestic environments. Instead, Thonet’s bentwood armchairs continue to be suitable for the masses.

The chaise longue, known in English as the “lounge chair“, was presented in Paris in 1929 at the ‘Salon d’Automne des Artistes Décorateurs‘ and shortly afterwards appeared in a French home not far from Paris.

In reality, the armchair was born from the collaboration of three design artists: Le Corbusier, Pierre Janneret and Charlotte Pierrand. In the beginning, the chaise longue did not have much luck, the market was not ready to accept this product so futuristic for the time.

In the 1930s, Le Corbusier gave the production rights to Thonet and also to Swiss and German companies. Much confusion was created and models were produced that were very similar to each other.

At the end of the Second World War, Le Corbusier decided to turn to the Cassina company and became one of its flagship products.

Who is Le Corbusier? The architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris

The most prolific and influential architect of the last century, Le Corbusier in his 78 years of life left us memorable works that are still studied today in the history of art and design.

On his identity card, under his name appears Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris. Known as Le Corbusier, he was born in a Swiss village but naturalised French. During his life, the architect travelled all over Europe where he trained before settling in Paris in 1917 to work for the French government.

Le Corbusier is remembered for his urban planning projects, public and private architectural works, to name a few, Villa Savoye in Paris and the administration buildings in Chandigarh, India.

Lounge Chair: the ‘true machine for resting’.

This is how the architect Le Corbusier defined the chaise longue. The official name of the armchair is Lc4 chaise longue à réglage continuum, which has been produced by Cassina since the 1960s.

The basic idea was to conceive a piece of furniture that facilitated rest, where each person could, even without closing their eyes, relax their head, shoulders, back and legs.

The Le Corbusier Cassina chaise longue has a variable tilt with a chrome-plated tubular steel frame. The base is made of sheet and tubular steel lacquered with matt black paint. The mattress and headrest with foam padding are upholstered in leather.

The Le Corbusier model chaise longue is the most imitated version by designers and has become one of the best-selling chaise longues.

Cassina Chaise Longue: the original

The Lc4 Le Corbusier Cassina armchair is the unique and the original. The process by which these armchairs are produced is decisive in ensuring top comfort.

The main feature of the Le Corbusier armchair produced by the Cassina brand is that the curves of the metal frame are not made by bending the tube, but by special welds that allow a constant thickness of the curve for greater mechanical resistance. The brushing stage makes the structure smoother, a meticulous process by which one can distinguish the original Lc4 from a fake. The chrome-plating process is only carried out manually.

The dimensions of the Le Corbusier chaise longue are:

• Length: 166 cm
• Depth: 50 cm
• Height: 67/80 cm

The approximate price of the Lc4 chaise longue is between 2000 and 5000 euros. On the market we can find similar models even at a lower cost, which will be enough to bring a design icon into the living room.