H.R. Giger has decided to put himself in the furniture line and I must say, the results are impressive. There are two models with three variations, the standard Harkonnen chair, constructed from fiberglass and the Capo Harkonnen Capo Chairs which feature triple skulls, constructed from fiberglass or aluminum. Each chair is handmade and in most circumstances takes about two months to deliver. They certainly are exquisite.
As undeniably cool as the H.R. Harkonnen Chairs are, there is something that just sits wrong about them. If you are familiar with the Dune books then you are no doubt aware of the character of Baron Harkonnen; he is a ruthless tyrannical dictator of the worst order, a cruel megalomaniac who delights in causing suffering in those around him.
The Harkonnen Chair, which was initially made for a Dune production that never saw the light of day, was presumably meant for the Imperial throne, the seat of absolute power in the Dune universe upon which Baron Harkonnen’s ample buttocks would have rested.
It has the look of a throne and a price to match and it is therefore little surprise that the client list has its share of wannabe ruthless dictators as well as those that admire it for its artistic talent. In fact, the BaranyArtists page for the chair allows us to see a few of the people on that exclusive client list:
Frank Stella, Jeff Koons, Larry Bell, Isami Noguchi, Mikhail Chemiakin. Among their corporate clients are Time Warner, Universal Studios, MGM Grand Casino, The National Galery, The Philadelphia Museum, and the U.S. Government, Department of Navy.
Plenty of big companies have high-flying chief executives that imagine themselves as some kind of corporate Tony Montana, power to them; it is the last two names on that list that caught my attention, the U.S. Government and the Department of Navy.
Are we to take it that these lavish purchases are taxpayer funded? There are plenty of chairs that don’t look like thrones, cost a lot less and look a lot more comfortable that would be infinitely more suitable.
Prices: Harkonnen Chair in Fiberglass – $15,000; Capo Harkonnen Capo in Fiberglass – $30,000 (out of stock); Capo Harkonnen Capo in Aluminum – $50,000 (out of stock) [Barany Artists via Born Rich]
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Tags: Design, Furniture, Op-Ed, waste
1 response
Sep 3, 2008 at 2:00 pm
No, they aren’t being bought at taxpayer expense.
If you bother to read the entry for the chairs on the Barany Artists site, that list of clients is, explicitly, a list of clients not for this specific product but for the team of H. R. Giger and Leslie Barany, presumably of Barany Artists. The site also makes perfectly clear that the only version of the chair for actual sale is the cheapest one, as molds no longer exist for the other versions, so their (projected) prices include mold fabrication.
Just because the mainstream media have abandoned the tired practices of checking facts, consulting sources, and bothering with actual journalism doesn’t mean us bloggers have to! Check your facts–this post isn’t up to Uberreview’s usual standards.
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