A poetic design pushing the limits
This year the Trinidad Chair celebrates its 30th anniversary. Being one of Nanna Ditzel's most significant commercial successes, the Trinidad Chair has stood the test of time and is still relevant today.
“ A chair is for sitting in, but it also expresses age, eroticism, essence, human feelings, and dreams. While functionality must naturally be preserved, for me, chairs have increasingly become attempts to meet the challenge thrown down by all these other elements. ”
Nanna Ditzel, 1994
Friendly, comfortable, and pushing the limits within production. Ditzel got inspired for the Trinidad Chair from her trips to the Caribbean Islands with its vivid folk culture, stunning nature and unique architecture with its ornamented gingerbread style and brightly painted fretwork. With parallels from Ditzel’s jewellery design, she adds expressive ornamentations to her chair design while including human curves, making it all about the impression of the person in the chair. It is essential to exude dignity and be gracefully positioned as if sitting in a beautiful flower, creating a poetic frame around the seated person.
Like iconic moulded plywood chairs from the 1950s, Ditzel seeks refined plywood forms on slender frames. While experimenting with materials and the capability of wood, she pushes the limits of what is possible. With the help of Denmark’s first 4-axis CNC milling machine, her vision is made possible for the industrial production of the Trinidad Chair.
Inspired by the Caribbean winds and the sunrays playing with the fretwork and the shadows cast by trees on the gingerbread houses, this plywood chair is recognisable yet totally its own.
Trinidad comes in various woods and finishes. To commemorate what would have been Ditzel’s 100th anniversary and the 30th anniversary of the Trinidad Chair itself, it is being launched in the new colours Khaki, Nordic blue and a delicate Oak oil version, all with brushed stainless steel legs.
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Dive into our universe of stories about Nanna Ditzel's life, her designs and the people who knew her.
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