Hasta La Ideas

Last summer when The Standard Hotel opened it’s rooftop bar overlooking the Hudson River and Manhattan cityscape, many New Yorkers were left ogling the stylish woven deck chairs, known in Mexico as the Acapulco Chair. The chair’s timeless ease in both design and comfort makes it an ideal candidate for reinvention, reinterpretation and global inspiration. A pedestrian eye can list its core qualities as: a metal frame, a rounded shape and a woven seat.

The classic Acapulco Chair was designed in Mexico around the 1950’s from steel and plastic. Many believe that the American Hollywood presence in Acapulco’s hey day made the chair popular. Some say the chair is based on Mayan hammock weaving but the design and its designer continues to remain anonymous to this day. It is said, though, that in 2000, the Mexican designer Cecilia Leon Dela Barra officially christened the chair as the “Acapulco Chair.”

These simple chairs rainbow Mexican resort towns in their vibrant plastic splendor and are becoming more common stateside with the help of the Brooklyn-based collective Greenpoint Works. Maya Marzolf of GW explains the chairs essence like this, “its rudimentary function is a sun lounger: The flexible cording cradles the body comfortably, and its open weave allows the breeze to cool your skin.”

Top: “Medio Dia Chair” by Sebastian Lara. Bottom: Leather Chair by Ocho Workshop

(more…)