STORY BEHIND... WIGGLE SIDE CHAIR

WHO CAME UP WITH IT?

Frank Gehr y, 88, the architec t behind the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. He designed the cartoonish looking W iggle Side Chair in 19 72 as part of his Eas y Edges Series.

I CAN SEE WHY IT’S CALLED THE WIGGLE.

Quite. It’s made from 60 layers of cardboard bonded and screwed together. Gehry was one of the firs t designers to use such an everyday material for furniture. The chair is said to be comfy.

WHY CARDBOARD?

Gehry used corrugated cardboard for his architectural models and realised how strong it could be. ‘I began to play with it, to glue it together and to cut it into shapes with a hand saw and a pock et knife,’ he said.

SO HOW MUCH DOES A CARDBOARD CHAIR COST?

A lot — £675, nest.co.uk. The Wiggle Side Chair sold well, but Gehry returned to designing buildings instead. He felt the furniture was too expensive.

You can see the W iggle for free in the permanent collection of the Design Museum on K ensington High Street, London, design museum.org.