Case Study Fiberglass Eiffel Chair

The Case Study Fiberglass Eiffel Chair is a classic icon and its name holds no enigma.

Easily one of the most important and recognizable designs of the twentieth century. The Fiberglass Shell Chairs were originally designed in 1948, as an entry in The Museum of Modern Art’s International Design Competition. At the time, no one could possibly have anticipated the massive success and longevity of this iconoclastic design.

In the early fifties, fiberglass was considered an ultra-high tech material. Produced with a mixture of resin and glass fibers, it was lightweight, yet heavy-duty. Initial development and production was through Zenith Plastics—early pioneers of developing fiberglass for household and military applications. As for the chair bases, they were cleverly designed to provide a number of leg options that would be interchangeable within and between the arm shell and the side shell.

The shell chairs were first available in the spring of 1950. The first runs of the chairs were produced in only three colors; griege, elephant-hide gray, and parchment—all of which had interesting translucent qualities. The chairs were distributed until 1983.

In 2000, Modernica revived this potentially lost art of high-pressure, molded fiberglass. Modernica creates each shell, by hand, one-by-one, in our Los Angeles factory—just as they had been designed, developed, and produced in Southern California in the 1950s. Modernica uses all of the original presses and specialized equipment obtained from Century Plastics. To ensure authenticity of production, the initial shell chair production was overseen by Sol Fingerhut and Irv Green, the same team employed over sixty years ago to develop the original technology.

Modernica creates each chair with the charge of adhering to the original tactile qualities, texture, and characteristics that alone are unique to the fiberglass shell chair.

Our historic equipment has created thousands of chairs for three generations of chair lovers — and everyday Modernica continues to produce beautiful chairs for upcoming generations. Choose from a wide range of shell colors and chair base options. Modernica offers the flexibility to build a chair to suit your individual style and needs.

• Handcrafted in Los Angeles, U.S.A.
• Fiberglass Side Shell Dimensions: 18″W x 1″H x 16″D
• Eiffel Dimensions: 19″W x 17″H x 17″D
• Seat Height is approximately 18″