| Olivier Mourgue
1965
"Djinn" chair and stool
Steel tube frame, polyurethane foam upholstery; stretch material, green
67 x 72 x78 cm, seat height 34 cm (chair)
39 x 70 x 60 cm (stool)
Manufacturer: Airborne International, Montreuilsous-Bois
Olivier Mourgue's Djinn furniture appears at one and the same fully functional and yet out of this world. Adapted from abstract biomorphic shapes, they are reminiscent of living beings, indeed, djinns, the subservient spirits in Arabian fairy tales. With the gently rounded shapes, made possible by the foam-upholstered steel tube frame, Mourgue was able to pursue a new direction in furniture design that corresponds to our current appreciation of furniture as spatial sculpture. He wrote of his intentions: "A sound piece of furniture can be easily moved and re-arranged… I designed the Djinn chair with this in mind. In this particular case I was attempting to achieve various aims: the use of new coverings… not forgetting a lightness that enabled you to carry them under your arm." Their inspiring, for the era, futuristic shape turned the Djinn furniture into film stars: Stanley Kubrick used them for the interior of the space capsule in his 1968 movie "2001 – A Space Odyssey".
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