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Apple Watch Edition suddenly looks cheap as Marc Newson chair sells for $3.7M

If you wanted to get your hands on something (partly) designed by Marc Newson, the Apple Watch is probably the cheapest option out there. Even the $17,000 top-of-the-range Edition model might look a little more reasonable after learning that a Newson-designed lounge chair just sold at a London auction for $3.7M.

Still, when you’re laying out a few million on a chair, you can at least be confident it’s the most comfortable chair in the world, right? Apparently not: Newson told the BBC that it was “not really meant to be comfortable.”

Newson, a close friend of Jony Ive, joined Apple last year to work on a number of projects, among them a special edition Red Mac Pro (which sold for a mere $977,000) and, of course, the Apple Watch. Newson and Ive spoke at the Condé Nast luxury conference last week, discussing the design and materials of the watch.

Via Business Insider

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Comments

  1. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    I want to design a chair not meant to be comfortable and sell it for $3.7 mil

    • patthecarnut - 10 years ago

      Based on this, anyone can. You just have to have a name the rich know, covet and are willing to throw money at.

  2. charilaosmulder - 10 years ago

    I bet it’s not entirely true Jony and Mark “hate the same things” regarding design. Jony would probably hate the visibility of all those different parts and rather prefer one continuous form just like the table he designed to auction as PRODUCT (red). In addition, this chair doesn’t look like it’s functionally beautiful because it is probably ergonomically terrible.

  3. patthecarnut - 10 years ago

    I’m not sure, is it a mylar balloon or a vintage airplane component? Proves the rich are complete morons. Based on the pic above, he’s not very good at picking out clothes either.

  4. Bruno Fernandes (@Linkb8) - 10 years ago

    3.7M? I wouldn’t pay a penny over 3.3M for that chair.

  5. Howie Isaacks - 10 years ago

    Nice, but that chair doesn’t look very comfortable. The beauty of a product should not detract from its function.

    • Bruno Fernandes (@Linkb8) - 10 years ago

      This is a sculpture for Lockheed and only three exist. It’s art, not a chair. If you want to see a more mass-produced, et really funky chair he’s designed that is actually quite comfortable, search for the Wooden Chair he created for Capellini. Awesome chair.

  6. Ryan - 10 years ago

    That is the ugliest, stupidest chair.

  7. Don Horne (@DonHorne) - 10 years ago

    I would assume it has nickname “Frankenstein’s tongue”. That thing is about as pretty and functional as his Pentax K-01 design. For that price he could have at least used the polished, seamless technique Anish Kapoor used for Chicago’s ‘Cloud Gate’ a.k.a. ‘The Bean.’

  8. I think I saw something similar to this once on an online adult toy store. It was also used for your butt, but I think you inserted it, instead of sitting on it. I could be wrong.

  9. :-0 This is REALLY REALLY UGLY! It looks like a Goodyear Zeppelin coming from the future. Someone really payed $3.7M ? Is it made of pure silver? I definitely have the wrong job!

    And I think this chair is very dangerous too,if you sit on one side of this chair! 3 legs are very stable if the main mass is placed in the center, but this is a NO GO.

    I hope Apple won’t use any of his designs. BTW I never heard of him before the Apple watch. And I really hope that Jony did the Watch design and just got some tips from Mr. Newson.

Author

Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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