A Short History of the Bean Bag Chair

by

Mr Bean Bag

It is commonly considered that the bean bag was created by Roger Dean, a 20 year old employee at the UK small business Hille Furniture – a business that had been set up by a Russian emigrant within the east end of London in 1906. Roger Dean, who worked with Hille, is considered by some being the daddy of the bean bag . Although his design and style for the Sea Urchin seat allows it to mould to the shape of the person being beared, the make up of the piece is of polyurethane foam parts, therefore it is very different to the very smooth nature of the polystyrene beads inside a fabric bag. It was the Sea Urchin model which introduced him to Hille, and resulted in the commission to design the interior of the newly-expanded Ronnie Scott\’s Jazz Club, in London.

The seat consists of twelve pieces of foam and is coated in diverse types of fur. Although being circular, the chair would mould by itself to the shape associated with the sitter, who can get a comfy seating position of various angles. Some reason that the Sea Urchin is nothing more than a tweaked futon, not really that it makes a difference because the Sea Urchin is largely attributed as actually being the forerunner to the Sacco and what most people recognize at present as the beanbag.

It s not really until 1969 that the beanbag as all of us know it sprang into existence. Italian creators Gatti, Paolini, and Teodora were doing business for the Zanotta Corporation and were striving to construct the ideal form of chair to sell to 60\’s hipsters and hippies. The easy chair would have to be smart, well-designed, and in-tune with the 1960\’s life style. With the brief understood they set about producing this chair and what these people delivered has been referred to as Sacco or the Socco as it grew to be known abroad. It was the Sacco that\’s the very first modern day beanbag – a pear shaped leather bag filled with thermocol pellets.

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It is rumoured that the Socco was essentially a great unintended development that came from a foam manufacturer where they decide to put all the leftover bits from the production line in a bag. In any event the Sacco grew to become the first present day beanbag.

In the 70s the Sacco became incredibly well-liked and brought the designers overnight fame. The easy chair is much like the modern day beanbag. Nonetheless, in contrast to the common bean bag easy chair, the Sacco is pear shaped and is produced with real high-quality leather, and has a headrest section created by shifting pellets. It oozes quality, class, luxury and as a result ended up being a pricey object to build and purchase.

Throughout the 70s the Sacco was mass marketed but not as the Sacco. Vendors needed an identity for a replica of the Sacco, and they developed one with the more understandable name – the beanbag. The difference between the Sacco and the beanbag was that the beanbag utilised cheaper elements to make it more affordable for the average individual. The beanbag would go on to come to be an icon of the nineteen seventies along with the disco ball, lava table lamps, space invaders, Pong as well as Abba.

During the 1980 s the beanbag lost the majority of its hip reputation and for that reason ended up being relegated to the world of kiddie furniture . The beanbag grew to be the kid s preference of chair for viewing television.

The beanbags popularity wasn t done any favours when a number of kids were hurt and even suffocated to death following crawling inside of beanbag seating and breathing in the beans in the bag. In March 1995, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) in the United States recalled some12, 000,000 beanbag chairs and expected all seats sold in the market following that date to have childproof zip fasteners.

A beanbag resurgence commenced in the late 1990 s thanks to suppliers who started employing enhanced production methods such as dual stitches and much better fabric together with aesthetic enhancements which assisted to make beanbags stronger and more desirable.

During the last decade the beanbag has risen in acceptance and has become more than just an inside comfy seat. Now you can get out-of-doors beanbags suitable for summer season BBQs, beanbags for the swimming pool, beanbags mattresses for your pets, even beanbag stools and settees. Sumo even makes dedicated gaming beanbags. Totally new generations are finding the beanbag the first time because of their 60\’s lure.

Ian Roberts works for Mr Bean Bag (UK) which is one of the UK\’s leading suppliers of affordable, high quality contemporary bean bag chairs and furniture. You can find out more about these wonderful products at

Mr Bean Bag

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