Product Spotlight
Seen from the side, the Corona Chair is four upholstered ellipses climbing a single bent line of steel. Between the cushions there is only air, yet the seat, the lower back, the shoulders and the head each land on a pad of their own. Poul M. Volther drew it in 1964, and Fredericia still calls it an experimental take on Danish design.
A Name Borrowed from the Sky
The name came from television. Fredericia traces it to a broadcast of a solar eclipse: during an eclipse, the sun's corona, its glowing outer atmosphere, appears as a radiant halo surrounding the moon. Volther saw that ring of light echoed in his chair's floating elliptical cushions, and the Corona had its name.
The form itself took a decade of refining. Volther's Pyramid Chair of 1953 laid out the idea of separated pads on an open frame, and through the early 1960s he reworked it with the Danish furniture maker Erik Jørgensen, arriving at the sleeker, steel-framed Corona in 1964. When the chair was reintroduced at international design fairs in 1997, it found the wide audience the first run never had. Today it is built by Fredericia, which also produces the work of Børge Mogensen, Volther's predecessor at the FDB studio.
The Designer Who Ran the FDB Studio
Volther, born in 1923 and trained at the Copenhagen School of Arts and Crafts, joined the FDB furniture design studio in 1949. He worked under Børge Mogensen and took over leadership of the studio in 1950, at 27. That background shows in his own words: "I strive for solutions with a high degree of functionality, aesthetics, and quality, designed with the user in focus."
The Corona is that philosophy pushed to its logical end. Each ellipse sits where the body needs support, and nothing was added anywhere else. We wrote about the school of thinking Volther came from in our Børge Mogensen designer spotlight, and about the company now building his work in A Century of Danish Design in Six Chairs.
Four Pads on a Spring Steel Spine
The construction is exactly what it looks like. Four separate pads of moulded cold-cured foam, each fully upholstered in fabric or leather, mount to a frame and swivel base of spring steel, finished in black or chrome. Spring steel is the specialist detail here: the material flexes slightly as the sitter shifts, so a chair with no visible suspension still has give.
Because the pads are separate, the Corona stays visually light for its size. It stands 38.2" tall on a 34.6" by 32.3" footprint, with the seat at 15.75", a full lounge chair that a room can see straight through. The whole chair swivels, so it can be turned toward the sofa for company and toward the window for reading.
Where the Corona Belongs
This is a chair for the position in the room where a sculpture would otherwise go. It looks resolved from the front, the side and the back, so it can float free of the walls: the far corner of a living room, the landing at the top of the stairs, the spot by the window that the sofa cannot reach. Give it a few feet of clear space and a low table, and the rest of the room falls into place around it.
Upholstery decides its character. In a saturated fabric like the green Fiord above, the ellipses read as graphic shapes and the chair becomes the room's colour statement; in black leather on the chrome frame, it is pure 1964, and that is the version we would put in a den with a record shelf. The Corona takes a wide program of fabrics and leathers, including customer's own material. It sits comfortably among our lounge chairs and armchairs, and it is just as complete standing alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who designed the Corona Chair?
Danish designer Poul M. Volther designed the Corona Chair in 1964. Volther led the FDB furniture design studio from 1950, following Børge Mogensen, and developed the Corona with furniture maker Erik Jørgensen. Fredericia Furniture produces the chair today.
Why is it called the Corona Chair?
The name was inspired by a televised solar eclipse. During an eclipse, the sun's corona appears as a glowing halo around the moon, and Volther's floating elliptical cushions echo that ring of light. The 1964 chair grew out of his earlier Pyramid Chair of 1953.
How is the Corona Chair constructed?
Four separate elliptical pads of moulded cold-cured foam are each fully upholstered and mounted to a spring steel frame with a swivel base, available in black or chrome. The spring steel flexes subtly as you shift, giving the chair comfort without visible suspension.
What upholstery options are available?
The Corona Chair is offered in a wide range of fabric and leather groups, and it can also be ordered in a customer's own fabric or leather. Our design team can send options and a quotation for the combination you have in mind, including the frame finish.
Does the Corona Chair swivel?
Yes. The chair sits on a spring steel swivel base, so the seat rotates freely while the base stays planted. That makes it a practical reading and conversation chair: it can turn toward the window, the sofa, or the rest of the room without being moved.
More than sixty years on, the Corona Chair still supports the body at four points on a frame with give, and leaves the rest of the room in view.
The fabric and leather programs are wide, and our design team works through them with clients every week.
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