In 1982, the legendary Finnish designer Yrjö Kukkapuro designed the Experiment Chair. But instead of a single version of the chair, he created three, each with a differently shaped armrest and in a different color. With its quirky look and style, which the designer later described as “decorative functionalism,” the chair went on to symbolize the postmodernist defiance of the ‘80s. The chair has been out of production for 30 years, but now, a version of it can be yours for $1,899—thanks to Swedish furniture brand Hem.
The new Experiment Chair has the same squiggly armrests as the original and comes in the same red, apple green, and sky blue, plus the obligatory shade of black that was added by Hem. The brand made the chair slightly wider and taller than its 1980s counterpart (because people today are bigger) and slightly sturdier (because requirements are more stringent). But all of those differences, however minute, were agreed upon by Kukkapuro, who is 91 years old and living in Helsinki, and collaborated with Hem to bring his chair back to life.
The Experiment Chair marks a significant evolution in Hem’s business model, which from the very beginning, has favored designs by contemporary designers like Faye Toogood, Max Lamb, and Formafantasma. “From the beginning, the idea was to champion everything that we love, that I love about the design industry, the quality, the stories, the culture, but add a layer of a new generation,” says founder and CEO Petrus Palmér, himself a designer.
From the beginning, Palmér was interested in challenging the norm and being progressive, which to him meant looking forward. But the company is now approaching its 10-year anniversary. It has grown and matured, and Palmér now understands that it is impossible to be a progressive design company without also looking back.
In May this year, Hem reissued the Fars Glas—a wine glass with a delightfully chunky stem—by the Swedish glass artist Erik Höglund, and Palmér is thinking about reviving another Kukkapuro chair next. But he says the brand’s strategy isn’t yet set in stone. “It’s impossible not to regard the shoulders of the giants we stand on,” he says.
Kukkapuro is one of those giants. The postmodernist designer is known for his rebellious style and experimental approach to furniture design. His most famous chair, the Karuselli, was hailed the most comfortable chair in the world by The New York Times and is still in production with the Finnish manufacturer Artek. According to Kukkapuro’s biography, the designer was so prolific that most Finns have sat on one of his chairs at some point.
His Experiment Chair was of part of a bigger series of birch plywood and steel chairs, tables, and sofas with colorful armrests and legs. It is known as the Experiment collection. In an email to Fast Company, the designer says he designed this collection over the summer of 1982—“to please my own artistic mind”—then started making prototypes as soon as he returned to Helsinki from his summer cottage. “I thought it was hilarious when this collection became a success,” he says, noting that the chair went on to be sold to banks, offices, schools, and private homes.
Now, Kukkapuro says he is “a bit sentimental“ at the thought of his chair coming back to life after so many years. “Sometimes I think that it’s not a designer’s job to bring old models or works back to life,” he says. “But if new generations find my works again, it’s an honor for me! I have always felt that the Experiment series has potential to be a benchmark from the eighties.”
He may have been right. A vintage Experiment Chair with black leather upholstery and green armrests is currently going for $7,599 on the luxury design marketplace 1st Dibs. Palmér spent some time scouting marketplaces and auction houses to get a sense of how popular the chair was, but in the end, he says his gut and that of his team prevailed. “I hope people will take to it,” he says. “They sell for high prices at auction houses, but it is an acquired taste. If you know nothing about Kukkapuro, I’m not sure you’re going to buy it.”
Experiment chair 2.0
Hem’s Experiment Chair was made with modern manufacturing techniques. It comes in flat-pack form and allows users to mix and match colors and textiles, including trending styles like bouclé. It was also reinforced with meticulously located yet discrete steel plates designed to prolong its life. It looks the same, but is it, really? “We can probably have a night-long discussion with a vintage dealer about that . . . and end up losing,” says Palmér with a laugh. “But in my head, it’s still the same design.”
Whichever camp you fall in, the Experiment Chair remains a symbol of design rebellion, and it’s the reason Palmér was enamored with it in the first place. “It is a very progressive idea and that’s what caught our eye and made us realize that even though it’s 40 years old, it’s still highly relevant and highly progressive and still challenging,” he says. “People look at that chair and they have to have an opinion.”
Opinions, however, come in all sorts of flavors. If you hate something, you won’t buy it, but Palmér believes that taking risks is the only way we will avoid getting lost in an infinity room of look-alike chairs. “It’s part of being progressive and being bold and being a trailblazer. You have to accept some things will be widely successful whereas others won’t,” he says. “You need to have some guts, otherwise you end up putting out what everybody else is putting out.”