Like its namesake the Bibendum (AKA Michelin) Man, Gray’s Bibendum chair has a portly frame and is generously girthed. The provenance of the original is unclear, with some claiming it was meant for the Rue de Lota apartment of Madame Mathieu Lévy, a trendy Parisian milliner, and others averring that Gray intended the chair for her own French Rivera apartment, E1027. Whichever of these histories is correct, one thing is for sure – Gray’s Bibendum remains a classic.
Le Corbusier and Gray
Gray was something of design polymath, commencing her career in the field of lacquering, then moving on to furniture design, and completing her CV with a number of architectural accomplishments. It was this protean quality that piqued the interest of fellow designers – Le Corbusier was a particularly ardent follower – and caused the British version of Vogue to become effusive when appraising her work: “Influenced by the modernists is Miss Gray’s art, so they say. But is it not rather that she stands alone, unique, the champion of a singularly free method of expression.”
Gray and Tubular Steel Design
Gray is thought to have been spurred to design the chair when she came to understand the potential for tubular steel, which other modernist designers – notably, Mies van der Rohe and Marcel Breur – were already employing to support their furniture. Gray’s chair, however, reveals a playful, ironic outlook that is at odds with the brevity of other modernist designs. The Bibendum appears overstuffed and top-heavy, a structure whose precariousness makes the sitter fear for the apparently spindly tubular legs. The thick wedge of foam that makes the seat and the two corpulent semi-circular tubes that form the chair’s back rest and arms (often upholstered in red leather) add to the effect of inflated ostentation.
First Impression Often Misleading
Though the design may sound unpromising, the chair – in-keeping with Gray’s design philosophy – is subtly subversive and was fashioned with a good measure of whimsy. It is this self-knowingness that deflects claims that the chair is too bulky and unrefined. Far from imminent collapse, the legs and base of the chair are super strong and reliable. To finish the effect, the elephantine arms and back-rest counterpoint this slim bottom arrangement with a cute sense of irony.
The Bibendum may not immediately please the eye, but it certainly intrigues and, moreover, consummately accomplishes what the designer hoped to achieve when she set-out on the design – it is welcoming and comfortable. It is the sense of the humbleness of the designer's motivation coupled with the audacity of its execution that has made the chair a modernist classic. At once ironic and earnest, the Gray Bibendum design remains a mainstay of the modernist oeuvre as a testament to the designer's gift for "turning the practical into the poetic", as Colin St John Wilson, designer of the British library and a Gray admirer, has noted.
Bibendum Prices and Sizes
The London-based company Aram has the worldwide head license for the Gray Bibendum Chair. However, Aram has licensed the Germany firm ClassIcon to distribute the chair in a number of European countries. It is priced at € 4.540,00.
There are a number of faux or 'inspired-by' Eileen Gray Bibendum chairs on the market. The price invariably reflects the materials and craftsmanship, but a typical faux Bibendum retails at around $600.
An Aram Gray Bibendum Chair measures: W92 x D79 x H73cm.
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