Marc Newson

Embryo Chair

Embryo Chair

Copyright Year: 1988
Manufacturer: Cappellini

The first Newson chair to go into production, through the Japanese company Idee in 1988, and later with Cappellini. The Embryo chair looks familiar now, but its rounded shape was radically new 20 years ago. “No one was making things in bright colours that were curvy and seductive and sensual,” says Newson. “I’d been subconsciously developing a style, and with that piece I think I defined what that style was.”

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Marc Newson

Marc Newson

Marc Newson (Australian, born 1963) graduated from Sydney College of the Arts in 1984, where he studied jewelry and sculpture. After graduation he was awarded a grant from the Craft Council of Australia to stage an exhibition of his work, where Newson debuted an early version of his aluminum Lockheed Lounge. The lounge chair subsequently set three consecutive world records at auction, selling for over $2 million dollars. He began his design practice in Paris in 1991 and relocated it to London In 1997. Throughout his career Newson has had a particular interest in transportation design, creating everything from cars, boats, airplanes, and even space planes. In 2006 he added the role of creative director at Qantas Airways. His work is in the permanent collections of museums worldwide. Newson was included in Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2005, and he was honored with the title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty the Queen in 2012.

Other objects by Marc Newson