Lesson Plan: Make your own Wiggle Side Chair

In the early 1970s, Frank Gehry was a young architect with an adventurous approach to design. As an architect, Gehry has created innovative architecture including Museums and buildings for Disney but in the 1970s he also created a line of cardboard furniture known as ‘Easy Edges’.

Cardboard was a familiar material to Gehry who used it for making architectural models. Using a jigsaw and some corrugated cardboard he set out to make furniture ranging from a sofa and armchair to a desk and chair. The most famous piece of Frank Gehry’s furniture was the Wiggle Side Chair; an elegant but strange chair that took its name from its shape.

Soon Gehry was known for his successful range of cardboard furniture that sold for high prices. His aim was to take an everyday material that we take for granted and make it a desirable material used in high-end design.

Eventually, Gehry decided to stop manufacturing Easy Edges furniture because it took him away from his first love; architecture.

Watch the Design Museum film about the Wiggle Chair and learn more about this strange, unconventional design.