Three-Dimensional Plywood Shells 
Sessel Chair „Janson“ 
Entwurf Design: Carl Jacobs, England, um ca. 1950 
Ausführung Execution: Kandya, London, um ca. 1950; Buche, Sperrholz 
Beech, plywood; MAK H 2811/1985 
Wannenstuhl Bowl Chair 661 
Entwurf Design: Günther Eberle, Deutschland Germany, 1953 
Ausführung Execution: Thonet Frankenberg, 1954-59; Buche, massiv, 
Sperrholz Beech, solid, plywood; Thonet Frankenberg 
In addition to chairs, in which the seat and the 
backrest consist of a single, two-dimensionally 
molded plywood sheet, in the late 1940s seat- 
ing furniture emerged which used three- 
dimensionally shaped seating Shells—like 
the “Jason” chair designed by Carl Jacobs for 
the British Company Kandya in 1 950 or the 
Model 661 designed for Thonet by Günther 
Eberle in 1953. It is characteristic of this fur 
niture that they all have holes, gaps or other 
recesses in the bowl-like plywood shell, which 
is less a form-related aesthetic decision than 
a material technological necessity. Namely, 
without such recesses, a plywood sheet could 
not be bent or folded into a three-dimensional 
bowl form. Correspondingly, this did not always 
result in the most elegant constructions: In all 
these Shells, there is an overlapon the side or 
in the middle of the seat and usually the bolting 
to the base remains visible on the top surface 
of the seat. The aesthetic problems of the 
three-dimensionally shaped seating Shells 
were, at that time, best solved in America- 
however, this was achieved by using a different 
material: Next to Eero Saarinen, it were primar- 
ily Charles and Ray Eames who, at the begin- 
ning of the 1950s, developed self-supporting, 
organically three-dimensional molded Shells 
made of fiberglass-reinforced polyester, which 
could be mounted firmly with rubber discs 1 - 
so-called shock mounts-onto the various base 
structures made of wood or steel, and who be- 
came pioneers in the development of plastic 
furniture. 2 
1 These rubber bumpers, which “decouple" the upper part of the 
chair from the base frame, can also be found in Thonet’s bowl 
chairs and models from Arne Jacobsen. This was the only way to 
make it possible to support the plywood tub or bowl elastically in 
Order to prevent rupturing when subjected to unilateral loading or 
punctual pressure. 
2 Cf. John Neuhart / Marilyn Neuhart / Ray Eames, Eames Design: 
The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames, London 1989, 
139 ff. 
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