Chair (USA)

Six examples of this chair were set around a glass table in the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company's (PPG) model dining room featured at the 1939 New York World's Fair in The Glass Center's Glass in the Home exhibition. The chair is made of a slumped plate glass frame. The original seats, made of fiberglass, were a solid color, possibly white, cream, or another light shade. At least one other example of the chair (with stripe-patterned upholstery) was shown at in The Glass Center as part of a model bedroom in front of a dressing table.
The Great Depression forced many Americans to reimagine how they defined “luxury,” as exotic woods and expensive fabrics became unaffordable. Manufacturers like PPG responded by encouraging Americans to gradually accept new materials and technology into their homes. This new furniture eschewed ornamentation in favor of purely functional forms, as seen in this PPG chair. New forms and proportions also encouraged casual comfort in the home over formality and fussiness. PPG showed that it was possible to create simple, classical forms with more traditional materials (though not necessarily traditional to furniture design), bridging modernity to the past.
Due to the fragility of glass, the form proved unsuitable for production. Regardless, this chair remains significant as a piece of World's Fair material culture, as a demonstration of the hope and optimism in glass as a promising alternative material, and as a representation of the work of PPG, one of the most significant glass manufacturers in American history.

Chair (USA); slumped plate glass, metal, textile; H x W x D: 71.8 x 54 x 56.5 cm (28 1/4 x 21 1/4 x 22 1/4 in.); Museum purchase through gift of George R. Kravis II and from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund; 2013-1-1

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Making Design.