Pair of Jan Bočan Czech embassy armchairs

Architect, urban planner and product designer Jan Bočan (1937–2010) was a vocal exponent of Czech brutalism. His efforts were valorised when, in 1971, he won a RIBA award for the Czechoslovak embassy in London alongside collaborators Jan Šrámek and Zdenka Rothbauer. The following year the trio unveiled their design for the country’s embassy in Stockholm, leaning on the same principles of rationality and robustness, and from where these chairs hail. The building is now the headquarters for the fashion brand Acme.

The armchair he designed for the embassy was a perfect foil to the swathes of concrete, metal and glass used for its construction. A rolled back mimics the precise curve of the light frame, which is formed from a single piece of bent plywood. The design was likely manufactured to Michael Thonet’s bentwood technique by Ton, then a state-owned company that operated from Thonet’s former factories. It was never put into wider production, so the number of available chairs is extremely limited.

Newly reupholstered in a soft textured hemp weave from the UK. Wood refinished as per painted originals. 

H73 W76 D87cm

K057E