Disney Consumer Products and Avant Gallery are pleased to announce the launch of the Walt Disney Signature Airline_009 Chair in collaboration with Cory Grosser as they recreate a classic Disney inspiration. The launch event of the exhibit will take place December 2, 2010 during Art Basel/Design Miami fairs.
Los Angeles based designer Cory Grosser and Walt Disney Signature, Disney’s adult lifestyle brand, have imagined a new armchair and ottoman inspired by the original Airline Chair from 1934, which Walt Disney selected when he built his original animation studio in Burbank, California. Visually beautiful and exceptionally comfortable, the Airline Chair was used widely throughout the studio by Walt Disney animators. To this day, the Airline Chair is a physical connection to the story of Disney. Walt Disney had a tradition of collaboration with outside designers and artists, and the Airline_009 chair is the result of collaboration with another inspiring designer.
“Like Walt Disney’s animators, our Walt Disney Signature team were moved by the Airline Chair design and its heritage and sought to recreate the spirit of the original in a re-imagined more streamlined form,” said Pam Lifford, executive vice president, global fashion and home, Disney Consumer Products. “Inspired by lightness and flight, realized with cutting-edge technology and advanced joinery techniques, the Airline_009 chair stretches the boundaries of possibility and the power of imagination. We believe this chair is a new tool for imagination and creativity and we hope it inspires its owners as the original did.”
The Airline_009 chair combines both the classic design of the past chair, but with modern touches of today. It celebrates advances in furniture construction with a sculpted walnut frame and fine leather upholstery. Through careful design choices, the chair references the past but appears both light and unmistakably modern. It reclines with a concealed hinge hidden between the seat and back.
Inspired by the original Airline Chair
In 1938, with the success of, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney began to plan the construction of the ultimate animation studio in Burbank, California. Walt wanted his studio designed to facilitate optimum production, which is why he commissioned the design of the Airline Chair (1934). The chair was manufactured for a limited time and ultimately, the only chairs produced were the 300 or so which Walt Disney purchased for his new studio.
Today, the Airline Chair is highly collectable and remains one of the most sought after Art Moderne products ever designed.
Related articles
- Keeping things fresh at Walt Disney World (chipandco.com)
- November Disney News Roundup from Chip & Company! (couponingtodisney.com)
- Meeting your favorite Disney Celebrity (chipandco.com)
