Bel Air

The iconic ‘Bel Air’ chair was the most important contribution of the Californian designer and ceramist Peter Shire to the Italian design group Memphis and became a signature object for the collective. It was used on the cover of the most widely distributed book on the group (authored by Barbara Radice); and - in a cartoon version - as the ‘poster object’ for the first American museum exhibition about the group: ‘Memphis in Memphis’ (Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Tennessee, 1984/85). While it fit into the Memphis aesthetic, the design is pure west coast. Shire’s style was influenced by the Los Angeles culture of surfing and hot rodding, as well as Art Deco and 1950s Space Age architecture in

Chair · Los Angeles · 1982. Painted wood, coloured cotton fabric. By Shire, Peter. Victoria and Albert Museum, London.