Vladimir Kagan "Nautilus" Swivel Lounge Chair

A swivel lounge chair designed by Vladimir Kagan by Directional. Retains original upholstery in two-tone ultrasuede. Electric blue with turquoise accent. Very good original condition with "Directional" label on base. Second half of the 20th century. (last 3 images are interior shots, notice how artificial lighting seems to change the color). Measures 35.25ʺW × 34.5ʺD × 29ʺH.

VLADIMIR KAGAN:
Vladimir Kagan is one of our most enduring designers of modern furniture with a career that has spanned over sixty years. He started designing in 1946 and by the early fifties, his innovative sculptured designs created a new look in American furniture. Today, his sparkling creations are on the cutting edge of the 21st century. His designs are spearheading creative designs for hotels, furniture, textiles and home furnishings. The New York Times says: "Vladimir Kagan is one of the most important furniture designers of the 20th century. Furniture designed by him in the forties, fifties and sixties have become icons of Modernity and an obligatory reference to every designer. He is the creative grandfather of a whole new generation of designers."

Born in Worms on the Rhine, Germany in 1927, Vladimir Kagan came to the United States in 1938. His earliest focus was on painting and sculpture but in his formative years he became exceedingly attracted to architecture and design. He studied Architecture at Columbia University and in 1947 joined his father, Illi Kagan, a master cabinetmaker, to work in his woodworking shop and learn furniture making from the ground up.

Early commissions included the Delegate's Cocktail Lounges for the first United Nations Headquarters in Lake Success N.Y. (1947-48). In 1948 he opened his first shop in New York on East 65th Street and moved to fashionable 57th Street in 1950. His clients are luminaries in the world of art, theater, music and industry.

Connoisseurs and museums are avidly collecting his designs today. Kagan's furniture is in private collections worldwide. His prize-winning designs have been published in books and magazines internationally and are in the permanent collections of the V&A London, the Vitra Design Museum and Die Neue Samlung in Germany as well as in the most prominent museums in the United States.
SOURCE: Tom Ford

DIRECTIONAL FURNITURE:
Directional Furniture captured the essence of mid-century modern before it was a trendy name. Directional has always been the sought after brand designers have gravitated to since the last mid-century! Classic lines and futuristic curves have defined the furniture that has distinctly been labeled Directional.
SOURCE: Tomlinson Company