SIT DOWN: chairs for children

TO COINCIDE with Sit Down, the new V&A Museum of Childhood’s touring exhibition of children’s chairs, we asked child chair expert, collector and exhibition advisor, Molly Price of Molly Meg for her favourite, and lesser known, chairs for kids.

Peter Murdoch\'s spotty chair1. I love UK designer Peter Murdoch’s spotty chair from the 1960s. How modern does it look? This chair was incredibly forward-thinking for its use of polyethylene-coated laminated kraft paperboard, and was the first piece of commercial furniture made of paper. It was designed to be assembled at home by simply folding along the pre-scored lines: it’s an icon of the Pop era.

Cosco\'s booster seat2. Adjustable booster seat manufactured by Cosco in the early 1970s. The yellow design has to be my favourite. I love the retro printed check padded seat. They were originally designed as car seats - quite different to styles of today! Cosco only manufactured these chairs for two years which makes them a real find. I’m not sure if they would pass the car safety standards of today but they are great booster seats for the house! The yellow edition can be seen in the exhibition.

The Casalino3. The Casalino Junior Chair, 1970s original edition, designed by Alexander Begge and produced by German furniture company Casala. I love the smooth, flowing sculptural shape. It is cleverly designed with no sharp corners and can be easily stacked. I have nick-named these the duck chairs because of their beak-like shape. Casala have recently decided to re-issue their original design.

Vintage 70s seat4. Among my other favourites is this fun 1970s brown and white printed wooden and vinyl seat which I picked up on a recent trip to California. I have no information on the designer of this chair I just love it!

Rattan bucket chair5. 1960s rattan bucket chair is one of the most popular pieces we sell. Customers who contact me to source similar often explain that this chair reminds them of something they had as a child. There are so many versions, often with different shaped feet. The V&A chose this black and white version for their collection.

*Sit Down: Seating for Kids - at the V&A Museum of Childhood from 6th February 2010. See http://www.vam.ac.uk/moc/for more details. The exhibition will tour following its six months in London.

*On the opening day of the exhibition Molly will be running a workshop at the museum where children will be decorating a custom made story-telling “throne”. This is a drop in session from 11am-1pm suitable for all ages. There will be other fun events on during the day including musical chairs.

***Versions of all chairs can be ordered from Molly Meg: www.molly-meg.co.uk