Awesome Bookish Chairs

Derek Attig

Staff Writer

Derek works in graduate student career development and is (believe it or not) one of the world's foremost experts on the history of bookmobiles. Follow Derek on Twitter @bookmobility and on Instagram @bookmobility.

Nothing is quite as nice as a good reading chair, somewhere you can flop down with a book and stay for hours, lost in both book and cushy, comfy seat. As usual, though, I’m interested in ways to amp up the bookishness of interior design elements—like staircases, lamps, wallpaper (maybe), and flooring—and I think chairs, already so promisingly literary, are ripe for it.

The most practically bookish chairs are those that let you keep all the books you might want within reach:

Chair by Nobody&co. Photo from The Style Files.

Chair by Nobody&co. Photo from The Style Files.

I'm pretty sure I'd fall out of this one in a heartbeat, as I have the balance of a drunken, one-legged giraffe. But pretty. Chair by Pucci de Rossi. Photo from The Style Files.

I’m pretty sure I’d fall out of this one in a heartbeat, as I have the balance of a drunken, one-legged giraffe. But pretty. Chair by Pucci de Rossi. Photo from The Style Files.

Design by He Mu and Zhang Qian. Photo from freshome.

Design by He Mu and Zhang Qian. Photo from freshome.

Concept by Stanislav Katz. Photo from Dornob.com.

Concept by Stanislav Katz. Photo from Dornob.com.

 

Another option is to go bookish aesthetically, rather than practically. Chairs covered in words are one choice, and probably the most famous recent example is the chair that serves as makeshift throne for the menacing matriarch of the ABC’s Revenge:

Victoria Grayson, enthroned. Photo from The Hairpin.

Victoria Grayson, enthroned. Photo from The Hairpin.

 

Another aesthetically bookish direction is to have a chair that references your favorite author. Though that leaves you in the potentially awkward position of sitting on his or her face:

Chairs by Acrila, on display at a 2009 furniture show in Paris. Photo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Chairs by Acrila, on display at a 2009 furniture show in Paris. Photo from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Or, alternatively, you could reference your favorite book: 

Photo from Trendhunter.

Photo from Trendhunter.

 

Finally, for those of you who aren’t squeamish about mutilated books, there are chairs that are actually made out of books:

Chair by  Alvaro Tamarit. Photo from This Is Colossal.

Chair by Alvaro Tamarit. Photo from thisiscolossal.com.

Photo from Inspiration Green.

Photo from Inspiration Green.

 

What do you think? Would you use one of these?

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