Outside the Box Thinking: The Ghost Chair

Halloween is once again upon us, which means its time to honor an old tradition here at Political Calculations, in which we seek out the scariest furniture on which to sit. Because what can be more unsettling when all you want to do is put yourself at ease in your easy chair, but your chair has other ideas….

This year, we’re turning to a chair known for its classic design, but which, on first glance, may make you doubt whether it is really there. Meet the Ghost Chair!

Ghost chairs like this have a relatively short history. They have only been around since 2002, when designer Philippe Starck worked out how to fabricate his version of an 18th-century Louis XVI chair from a single piece of transparent polycarbonate. Although inspired by antique furniture, it really is a marvel of modern technology:

One of the most magnificent features of the Ghost Chair is not immediately apparent to the eye—it’s how it’s made. The iconic chair required significant technical innovation to come to life, as it’s made of a transparent injection-molded polycarbonate, which uses a single mold. This means that the entire chair is a single piece—no screws, upholstery, or separate arms and legs. Because it’s plastic, and because there are no joints (which could freeze or crack in the rain or cold), the Ghost Chair performs particularly well outdoors, making it a go-to for elevated outdoor venues.

A far cry from its stuffy (and heavy) ancestral armchair, the Louis Ghost Chair is also remarkably lightweight, and easy to lift and move around. Better yet, it’s stackable (up to six chairs high).

Let us assure you that ghost chairs are a real product that you can really buy and not something you might find lurking in an odd corner of Al’s House of Lucite. The seemingly spectral chair we’ve featured in the photo is the EMMA + OLIVER Oval Back Ghost Chair, which you can buy this very Halloween at Amazon. It is one of several different models of transparent chairs featuring classic styling that you can use to meet your indoor and outdoor seating needs.

Ghost chairs are an example of outside-the-box thinking for how to furnish a modern home. But if they are not unsettling enough for you on this Hallow’s Eve, there are other options to consider. Here are our previous posts featuring less transparent, but perhaps more terrifying chairs….

• Markets in Everything: Scary Chairs to Sit Upon
• Happy Halloween! Now, Have a Seat….
• Furnishings Fit for Halloween
• Chairs of Terror
• Cathisophobia