History of the Tiffany Chair
The Tiffany chair has its origins dating back to 1807 and an Italian designer named Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi. The designer lived in Chiavari, on the northwestern Italian coast. The chair is also known as a Chiavari chair due to its design origins. Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi had an invitation from the president of the Economic Society of Chiavari, the Marquis Stefano Rivarola to redsign a chair that simplified and lightened the structural elements of the Empire Style chair popular at that time.
He achieved a great design that became known as the tiffany chair and brought rise to many factories opening in Chiavari and surrounding towns. At the time of Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi’s death in 1855 there were in the order of 600 craftsman making Chiavari chairs. His work also brought great acclaim from Charles Albert of Savoy, Napolean III and sculptor Antonio Canova.
The Chiavarina chair declined following the introduction and popularity of the Austrian chair designed by Michael Thonet. These were mass-produced, less expensive, and consisting of only a few elements that were easily assembled. This coincided with the second half of the twentieth century, following on from the industrial production.
In 1955, architect and designer Gio Ponti was also inspired by the structural system of the Tiffany chair for his Superleggera chair.
In 2016 the Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi inspired Tiffany Chair is machine produced and a popular choice for weddings, engagement parties and corporate events. This is because of the elegant appearance the chair has and that it’s light weight construction. The chairs design lends itself to be easily stacked and this is very appealing to event organisers arranging remote location events where transportation of all fixtures are required.
The white tiffany chair was also the chair of choice for the inauguration of the president Barak Obama. The use of the tiffany chairs at these high profile events have given rise to the popularity of them today. Events arranged for Generation Y groups in Sydney are bypassing the white and gold tiffany chair hire and seeking out their own selected tiffany chair hire Sydney wide.
