I know, it doesn't even require batteries. And yet somehow I want it.
While yesterday’s Bugatti-themed desk would absolutely be a cool thing to own, let’s face it, there’s no way it’s going to be suitable in every house. It only comes in a brilliant Bugatti blue, and it probably costs about as much as a new Bugatti as well. So it wasn’t too hard to talk myself down from my unrequited lust for that shiny bit of wood and metal.
Image borrowed from Restoration Hardware
This little gem, on the other hand, has not been so easy. There is a Restoration Hardware a couple blocks from my work, and I’m not going to lie, since seeing this chair for the first time, I’ve had to stop by and admire it a few times since.
The concept behind this chair — which Restoration Hardware calls the “Aviator Chair” — is that it is supposed to evoke the minimalist beauty of World War Two fighter planes. The leather is distressed to resemble a pilot’s jacket. The aluminium is polished, but far from perfect, and the rivets are blatantly exposed. In fact it may be the best example of intentional imperfection I’ve seen.
Let’s face it, we as nerds are perpetually having to walk that tight-rope line with out spouses. Given the choice, wouldn’t most of us turn our living room into, say, a screen large enough to resemble the viewscreen on the Enterprise (okay, Techie already did that), or design our decorating motif around an era of “Early Star-Wars Figurine” (okay, Cardboard already did that), or cover every available surface with artfully-displayed Matchbox toys (that would be me)? But unless our spouses are fantastically understanding, eventually we have to make compromises in favour of style and aesthetic design.
Either that, or everything we like gets relegated to the garage or the “rec room” in the basement, while the entire rest of the house becomes a stylistic exercise in nonoffensive unenthusiasm.
That’s why I like this so much. The nerd in me is giddy because of the blatant aviation-geek style of it, but I am almost certain I can get approval from the spouse’s aesthetic side.
And it’s on sale! I’m doomed.
The "Aviator"…the only chair to come complete with its own tetanus vaccine!
Seriously, though…that is some bad-ass furniture!!!
The armrests seem kind of high for comfort on the chairs. And while there is a cool factor to this furniture, I can't see too many wives/sweethearts/SO's getting excited about riveted sheetmetal panels and sagging ladders as part of the living room decor. Save it for your mancave.
I'm quite lucky, then. My significant other wants the chair almost as badly as I do. And surprisingly the armrests are almost perfect. I didn't mention it, but the damn thing is almost disgustingly comfortable. Which really sucks, because I need a reason to not want one horribly bad.
Interesting. I figured sitting in that chair would make me look like this guy.[youtube -DP89iMe0BY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DP89iMe0BY youtube]
Part of me would want to get that and polish it until it was all shiny and then maybe paint some not too offensive nose art on it. Something slightly more family appropriate than nekkid women, maybe something like this:
<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/4678593859_22b5a01403.jpg"width=500>
If you are an artist that can paint nose art, buy these, paint nose art on it and PROFIT!
I. Love. This. Chair.
Mrs. engineerd and I have been eyeing furniture since the living room is so close to being complete (just needs paint). I love this simple leather chair at Ikea with matching ottoman. The other day we were at the Swedish store of
deathfurniture and saw a couch that would be great in our small living room. I'm beginning to feel like I live in an Ikea catalog since both bedrooms have been outfitted by Ikea and our office will be filled to the brim with Ikea-sourced desk and shelving units.We need something to break up the Ikeaness of our decor. This chair would be the perfect thing to do that with.
I freaking love that chair and I would completely build a retro
1950s1940s WW2 room around a couple of those.Of course the chair sides look a little bare so I’d apply some USAF markings to the sides of mine.
Wow, I was pretty good at history, but I didn't realize WW2 went into the 1950s.
/historic pedantry
As far as we know, it finally ended in 1974.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroo_Onoda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teruo_Nakamura
Yes and there are still people building their fallout shelters not accepting the fact that the cold war ended in '91.
I do appologise, I meant to hit the 4 and not the key right beside it.
Maybe you or Dearthair could play with your magic admin powers and edit it for me? pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?
I'm only a 24th level warlock and don't have those powers.
I figured that's what happened, but I wanted to be a bit of a prick.
Yes well I hope that your shoulder's a bit sore from shooting me down with that M1 Garand style wit.
i just thought you were referring to all the WWII surplus that was available in the 1950s.
Damn, that would've been a good way to back pedal. Sadly no I just done f%&$ed up.
To quote the Robot Devil "Trouble is, you have what my old music teacher, Mrs. Mellonger, calls 'stupid fingers'." "With hands like that you'll be lucky to master a belt buckle."
<img src="http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Robot_Devil_1393.png">
There! I fixed it! Now nobody will ever know that you screwed up. It'll just be a secret, and it's completely invisible to anyone looking at it from now on.
Well, if you're just going to be mean about it, you should also fix the anachronistic reference to the USAF and that particular choice of roundel. Although both date to the '40s, both are post-War (1947).
I can explain that away as well. It was the best I could find on my moderately restricted work computer.
Honestly you guys totally missed the point of my comment and I'm hanging up my commenting hat for the day.
We totally got the point. We're just a bunch of assholes.
Don't feel bad though, your mess-up got me over the 100p threshold, so you can feel satisfied that you accomplished something today!
Welcome to the Century Club™! Try not to bruise the hookers too much. We have a security deposit, you know.
They could do this in brass with machine-turned filials and diamond-tufted oxblood-colored velour upholstery for a steam-punk effect, it occurs to me…
Wow, it's amazing how often you say stuff that I thought could only exist in my head. If I'm ever in Arizona, we need to go have a [Boylan's Creamy Red Birch] Beer.
I'm a huge fan of the visual imagery in Dino de Laurentiis' 1984 film Dune. The interiors of vehicles like the Ornithopters were Steampunk before the term 'steampunk' was coined. Love it…!
That's definitely a nice chair, but holy balls $1600 is a lot of money. Maybe it's because I'm a poor college student and most of my furniture comes from Goodwill, but I don't think I could justify spending that much.
I wonder how hard it would be to build something like this…
I too have lusted after that chair for months! Curses that it's on sale now. Sadly it won't be mine as we've just booked a trip to Italy and this chair would eat the entire rental car budget. (Not that anyone needs to be sad for us that we're going to Italia).
I saw this thing on uncrate.com awhile back. Tuck and roll coupled with riveted aluminum? Yes please! Price? If ya have to ask, you can't afford it.