T-Chair 3LC by Katavolos, Littell & Kelley, Black Leather, Designed 1952

The T-Chair, model 3LC, is one of the best-known chairs of American mid-century design. William Katavolos, Ross Littell and Douglas Kelley, three graduates of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, designed it in 1952 as part of the “New Furniture” collection for Laverne in New York. Examples of the design are held today in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, among others. The chair was later also produced by ICF in Italy.

The design lives from its open, almost graphic construction. Three legs of chromed tubular steel are joined by a T-shaped stretcher in black lacquered steel; the rear leg rises to full back height and carries a cross bar at the top that forms a second T. A single length of heavy leather is suspended within it, forming seat and back at once, so that the seat appears to float. On this example the leather is black on both sides, including the back of the backrest. The metal glides with rubber rings at the feet point to an earlier version; no maker's mark is visible, so it remains open whether the chair was made by Laverne or by ICF.

The chair is 83 cm high, 59.5 cm wide and 55 cm deep, with a seat height of 43 cm. It is in fine original condition. The leather has developed an even, natural patina where it is used most, mainly on the seat and backrest, and is otherwise well preserved; the chrome frame shows light, age-appropriate signs of use. As a dining chair, at a desk or as a single object in a room, it brings the clarity of New York modernism to a mid-century or contemporary interior. The price is for one chair. VAT is not shown separately.