Dragon chair
The world’s most expensive chair was actually made between 1917 and 1919. Called the “Dragons Chair”, it is one of the masterpieces of Irish designer Eileen Gray and it has a rather fascinating history.
The sculpted wood frame that surrounds the brown leather depicts the intertwined bodies of two dragons. Originally bought in Paris by Susanne Talbot, it then went to Cheska and Robert Vallois, two Parisian furniture dealers. In 1971 it was sold to a private collector.
The Dragons Chair ultimately eventually found its way into the Art Deco collection of the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurant and his partner Pierre Berge who were the co-founders of the YSL luxury brand. When the final hammer came down Eileen Gray’s Dragons Chair sold for twenty one million nine hundred thousand Euros. That’s $27,800,000.00 US. Even Frederic Chamber, the auctioneer, was astonished at the price. He expected it to sell for between five and seven million Euros.
Pininfarina’s Aresline Xten – $1.5 million
Created by Pininfarina, an Italian car design firm best known for designing luxury cars like Ferraris and Cadillacs, the Aresline Xten could be the most comfortable chair ever made. The Dynamic Synchronized Tilting system allows users to tilt the back and the seat independently while the Technogel in the cushions makes them conform to the shape of the user. The chair is also made from a durable fabric called Dynatec, which is also used by Olympic athletes.
Hadi Teherani’s gold office chair
If you’ve considerably less to spend on your office chair but you still want something expensive, then check out this chair by award-winning designer and architect Hadi Teherani of Germany. As far as we know, it’s the world’s second most expensive office chair at a (relatively) low price of $65,000. Instead of high-tech features and rare leathers, this chair is just well-designed. Of course, it also features silver and gold plating. That can’t hurt the price.
Mercury chair :
Described by the artist (Marc Newson) as a “Giant blog of Mercury”, this airplane-style piece of interior art is considered the most expensive in the world. It is called the Lockheed Lounge 1986.
This is like the Mona Lisa of chairs, it is very well known publicly and is worth millions. Marc Newson, the artist, has spent “a couple of miserable months” hammering out the form in aluminum. The chair was completed in his Sydney studio in 1986. It was also used in the 1993 Madonna Video called “Rain”.
