mexico renews itself - ProMéxico

70 Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle Negocios ProMéxico | The Lifestyle 71
When Acapulco
Conquered the World
the acapulco chair
Made of simple steel rod and PVC cord, the Acapulco Chair has departed from its
port of origin and sailed the seven seas. But just what is it that makes this chair an
icon of Mexican design and culture?
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by paulina lasa
photos archive
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How often have we heard that “education
is the key to real change”?
Probably so often it has lost all
meaning, yet there is a lot of
truth in that saying. Maybe we have not fully
grasped its meaning?
Handmade in the Bay of Acapulco since
the 1950’s, this simple, brightly colored chair
has become an icon of international design.
The identity of its designer is unknown, but
today it is sold –and even made– in various
parts of the world, and has participated in
top design shows in cities like New York and
Copenhagen.
Legend has it that the chair leapt to international
fame during Acapulco’s Golden Age
in the 1960’s, when the bay was popular among
Hollywood celebrities and attracted hordes of
tourists in search of a taste of glamour. Its distinctive
shape and the materials it is made from
haven’t changed since then: steel rod and PVC
cord woven together much like a hammock.
Colors like deep pink (a.k.a. Mexican pink)
give the chair a cheap-and-cheerful demeanor,
but aside from being cost-effective to manufacture,
it is suited to hot climates, is flexible
and easy to repair –qualities any Bauhaus designer
would applaud. Another advantage is
that it can be made from recycled materials.
Numerous contemporary designers have
incorporated the chair’s design principles
into their own creations, like Mexico’s Cecilia
León de la Barra and Héctor Esrawe, Patricia
Urquiola of Spain and the Campana brothers
of Brazil, who all have “Acapulco” inspired collections
or individual pieces.
For instance, Cecilia León de la Barra designed a colorful
magazine rack consisting of two concentric metal circles joined by
colorful PVC cord, and a series of equally colorful outdoor stools
based on the same principle as the Acapulco Chair.
Héctor Esrawe’s collection of outdoor chairs is as fresh and
flexible as the Acapulco Chair, but takes more sophisticated shapes
and provides support for the arms and legs. The chairs can also be
assembled and dismantled, depending on the user’s needs.
Patricia Urquiola also has a chair collection that adopts the
metal frame and plastic cord so characteristic of the Acapulco
Chair, except that her versions have more complex, angular frames
and feature broad, crisscrossing bands of color.
The Anemone, a chair designed by the Campana brothers, has
a metal frame much like that of the Acapulco Chair, but instead of
straight lines has a beautiful higgledy-piggledy plastic weave that
creates the illusion of an anemone. Another piece of theirs that appears
to have Mexican ancestry is the Vermelha Chair, made of 500
meters of hand-woven cord.
On its extensive journeys, the Acapulco Chair has been reinterpreted
time and time again, but will always remain true to its roots
as a flagship of Mexican design. n
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1. Acapulco chair.
2. Outdoor chairs by Héctor Esrawe.
3. Vermhela chair by the Campana Brothers.
4. Magazine rack by Cecilia León de la Barra.
5. Chair by Patricia Urquiola.
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