10 Ghost Chairs That Will Scare The Living Sit Out Of You!

You know the feeling of readying yourself to sit on a chair that someone else is guiding?  You're never sure which way he is going to move the chair -- toward you or away from you.   In the case of these "ghost chairs," it's not another person's intent that scares you, it's the illusion that the chair may not really be there at all.  If you're inebriated or just klutzy, better stay away from these....

1.  Nendo Design Ghost Series Fade-Out Chair

Nendo, the Japanese architecture and design firm, will exhibit its newest Ghost Series designs at the Museum of Art and Design (MAD) beginning October 27, 2009.  The Fade-Out Chair, is illustrative of Nendo's use of illusion in design.  If you get a chance, see this exhibit; it's on until January 10, 2010.

The chair is actually made of acrylic and covered with a trompe l'oeil wood grain... until it isn't.  The back frame is perfectly empty and the ends of the chair legs look equally absent, so as to make the  the chair look like it's floating. Oooooooooooooh. G h o s t y...

2.  Nendo Design Ghost Series Cabbage Chairs

Earlier this year, Nendo displayed a fabulous installation at the Friedman Benda Gallery in New York, consisting of 40 handmade Cabbage Chairs made of pleated paper left over (ghosts) from Issey Miyake's fashion designs. The set for the installation of the Cabbage Chairs, with it's very original mostly-white, black-striped fabric tinsel, creates a spooky atmosphere; that's for sure.

Introduce a few humans to the set and see how ghost-like they become.  Weird.

3.  Cini Boeri and Tomu Katayanagi's Clear Glass Ghost Chair

Boeri and Katayanagi designed this luxurious glass chair in 1987, but it was Fiam's manufacturing technology that made it possible to create flexibility in the helf-inch thick glass to make those sinuous curves.  One ultra elegant chair you might not only miss, but break! Glass Ghost Chair.

Glass Ghost Chair

4. Phillippe Starck's La Marie Chair

Maybe there were plastic ghost chairs before Phillippe Starck designed his first one, La Marie, back in 2002, but his Ghost Series certainly made the a huge impression in the 21st Century!  It was also the very first chair to be constructed completely of clear polycarbonate from a one-piece mold!

La Marie Chair

5.  Phillippe Starck's Victoria Ghost Chair

Starck's love of the medium led him to design his Ghost Series, redolent of older English and French designs, but in a very modern material for a chair!  He named each of his Ghost Chairs European and English rulers who reigned during the original period the chair was popular.  Alas, the Victoria Ghost Chair.

Victoria Ghost Chair

6.  Phillippe Starck's Louis Ghost Chair

The most popular of Starck's Ghost Series, Louis XV's ghost has arms, though it is still produced from a one-piece mold.  Imagine this scene from the audience! The Louis Ghost Chair...

Louis Ghost Chair

I also this these cushioned Louis Ghosts from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel are just as ghostly as the clear chair... also available in a range of clear tints, as are the other Ghost Chairs.

image via SumnerDesignStudio.com

7.  Phillippe Starck's Lou Lou Ghost Chair 

 With Louis Ghost being so popular, Starck then produced a daughter or son (?), a Lou Lou Ghost Chair for the little ones, which promises just as much surprising comfort as the other Ghost Chairs in the Starck series.

8. Lionel Dean's Holy Ghost Chair

Phillippe Starck's Ghost Series has inspired many other designers to create for his ghost chairs.  Here is one of my favorites from the designer Lionel Dean, using digital technology to create unique Holy Ghost Chairs.  

9. Design Drift Ghost Chairs

If you want to see some chairs that are really spooky, this is the place! Using laser technology, the design pair Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn created ghosts within the solid Plexiglas chairs for Design Drift. (Photos via dezeen.com)

Each Ghost Chair is, of course, unique, and has the effect of unsettling the appearance of the chair, even though the solid form of the chair itself is consistent. The designs below emphasize the impression of instability.... You see why you shouldn't drink around these ghosts!

10.  Stefano Merlo's Phantom Chair

You'd better get prepared for this ghostly chair because it's about as spooky as one you'll ever see.  Designed by Stefano Merlo for his doctoral degree, the Phantom is actually a transparent silicone veil with electroluminescent wires that can be draped over any plastic chair.  At night, the ghost comes alive!  Merlo shares his romantic vision of every plain plastic chair becoming a Cinderella!