The ”Navy 1006” chair, what a fascinating vintage industrial chair!

How amazing is this unsinkable chair. Did you ever dreamt of having such a nice industrial furniture in your living room?

First built in the USA in the 40’s (1944 in Hanover, Pennsylvania) by Emeco (Electric Machine and Equipment Company) for use on the American submarines and warships, to answer their specified contract “the chair had to be able to withstand torpedo blasts to the side of a destroyer”. And in fact Emeco’s founder in participation with Alcoa’s experts, Witton C and Dinges, have designed the 1006, an industrial chair so durable that it far exceeded the Navy’s specifications.

vintage-industrial-navy-chair-1006-emeco

The Navy Chair has been in continuous production ever since. The Emeco chair embodies the perfect shape and material fusion.

It is a handmade item. Made of aluminium (so antimagnetic) very light but also very strong (can support more than 500kgs). The craftsmen take twelve parts being welded together, then being ground to create a seamless one-piece look. Finally, the chair is anodized for a durable finish. They need 4 hours to make it with around 50 movements and 77 steps Process.

This marine chair will go threw all oceans until the 70’s: during the cold war the sales stopped. And in 1998, Gregg Buchbinder acquires the Emeco Company and brings it a new corporate culture. He asked the French designer Philippe Starck to work with him. It is a success: the turnover gets a 300% rising and the staff triple!

After Philippe Starck many great designers have designed the “Navy 1006”, like Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, and Andree Putmann, they all signed a reedition.

Nowadays, “The Navy Chair” is still manufactured and the The aficionados give it the nickname of “Ten o six”.

You would like to find an original one?

Almost impossible! Even if most of wartime chairs are still in perfect condition, they are not easy to find, as they are military stock. They are sometimes sold as military surplus in the U.S., but are very rare…  And be careful, there’s a lot of counterfeits on the market as well…

What to do then? Why not trying to find some of the different designers like The “Hudson”, The “Heritage” or the “Icon” by Philippe Starck or the”Superlight” by Frank Gehry or the last one “Morgans” by Andree Putman. Hurry, some of them are already in museum!

Do you want one? Check what we have in stock today at La Boutique Vintage.

2 thoughts on “The ”Navy 1006” chair, what a fascinating vintage industrial chair!

  1. You seem to know about the 1006 navy chairs. How do I know if mine is one of the first made? Mine have a metal tag affixed to the back.

    • Hello Vickie,

      I’m not 100% sure, but as the new ones are stamped, if yours have a metal tag affixed to the back, I would say this is an old one. Now if you want to be sure exactly from when it is, I would contact EMCO directly and ask them ( http://www.emeco.net/products).
      Hope I could help you a little.
      Kind Regards,

      Helen

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