This futuristic chair featured in television’s “Star Trek” represents the best of the sleek, minimalist elements of Mid Century Modern furniture design.
What do you get when you combine a well-established, popular furniture company and an avant-garde designer? Well, the result is a forward-thinking, unique and classic piece that becomes iconic. Enter the Kagan Chromcraft Sculpta Unicorn chair . . . also known as the Chromcraft “Star Trek” chair.
Chromcraft first introduced this chair in 1966 as the company was taking off with its popular “dinette” furniture sets. Established in 1908, Chromcraft had become the go-to company for many mid-century families looking to purchase affordable, yet quality, dinette pieces and was rapidly expanding its manufacturing capabilities to meet the boom in demand.
In a collaboration with Vladimir Kagan, a renowned furniture designer known especially for wood-framed chairs, Chromcraft created the Sculpta dinette set, which featured these futuristic chairs. The most striking aspect is perhaps their aluminum “V” base, lending itself to the “unicorn” nickname. It gives the chair the appearance of movement—a sort of pushing forward into the future—which is perhaps why it was so appealing to the set designers of the original “Star Trek” television show.
Featured in a few episodes, including one of the most famous (“The Trouble with Tribbles”), the chair fits in perfectly with the space-age aesthetic of the show because of its sleek lines and unique profile. “Star Trek’s” use of this chair helped propel the Chromcraft brand into a household name.
The chair has more to offer than just its looks: The durable quality of its materials—the button-tufted vinyl upholstery and laminate-and-cast aluminum base—makes it a practical option for a dining chair. It also has a swivel-tilt mechanism created by Chromcraft that allows the seat to turn around and then automatically return to its forward-facing position.
It’s no wonder this chair became an icon, not only of the space-age aesthetic that characterizes a portion of Mid Century Modern design, but also of an era that celebrated all the possibilities and new horizons of the future.
Love learning about the Space Age? Don’t miss Settling A Space-Age Home With Gems New + Old, Rudolph Schindler: The Innovative Space-Age Architect and A Collector’s Space Age Office.
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