A Short History & What I think Created the Boom in Bean Bag Chairs

Bean Bags have been around for centuries, a piece of fabric or leather, with bonded edges and a substance like sand, seeds, or bean like, in cased inside. In 2000 BC jugglers used bean bags to practice their craft. It was used in gaming tosses, like early renditions of horse shoes in the mid centuries. And no doubt was used as a simple weapon somewhere along the way. Man studied its inherited powers and discovered its' conformity to space qualities. This ability allowed it to stop water progression into areas where we didn't want it; and protect us from bodily harm from shrapnel and weapons fired upon us. But in the late 1960's quite quickly, the bean bag move from a futuristic furniture look, into use as everyday furniture in the early 1970's.

The first design came about in 1965 when a young man as student at the Royal College of Art, designed a foam chair called The Sea Urchin Chair. What was unique about this chair was that it conformed to the body of the sitter. This designer named Roger Dean became an renowned artist, mostly noted the world over for his rock band album covers for the group Yes.

In the Beginning

But the chair we know today came about in 1969 in Italy, it was called the Sacco (or Socco). Three designers working for Zanotta Design named Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini, and Franco Teodora, were looking for a chair that exuded style, practicality, and fit with the 60's design. The sharp looking chair was pear shaped, made with leather, and was filled with thermocol pellets (a synthetic aromatic polymer). There are stories that the idea came from watching workers at a Styrofoam factory, siting on bags of leftover pieces during their coffee and cigarette breaks.

The 70's

The Bean Bag Chair is extremely comfortable to sit in, and aesthetically appealing. Professional decorators enjoyed the light weight portability of bean bag chairs and with different covers, it fits into most decorating schemes. For the first time, in the late 70's an American company, the Cuddlebag Bean Bag Co. was producing products. Therapist and doctors recognized how the bean bags helped children feel relaxed and safe. The bean bag chair became known for helping children with sensory integration, and patients recovering from back surgery.

The 90's

In the 90's, bean bag chairs stretched to different sizes and shapes. Out to the market came sofas, recliners, fabrics that didn't tear as easy, and better fillers were being used. The bean bag chair had arrived from cheap furniture to an alternative very casual idea. March 1995 was the first time the Consumer Products Safety Commission recalled 12,000,000 products. Children had crawled inside and inhaled pellets. After which the commission required all chairs to have childproof zippers. By the end of the 90's Bean Bag Chairs had removable washable covers for easy clean up.

2000's

2000's bought a resurgence do to the retro feel of bean bag chairs. The chair also made appearances on TV shows (like Big Brother) in the United States and (Britain’s Next Top Model), in London. Sales were not hurt as chairs for gamers became a big selling point as well.. In August 2014, another 2.2 million Bean Bag Chairs were involved in another recall, after two more young deaths.

What Factors Were in Place to Explode the Bean Bag Chair Phenomenon?

We were moving through some turbulent times in the 60's, the Vietnam War was killing our young solders. The minorities of the country were saying enough is enough after centuries of being destine to second class citizens. Guns had killed a president, a presidential nominee, and two top leaders of the Equality movement, as well as many citizens in riots and the war in Vietnam. Young people boldly decided on fighting the establishment on war and race by ignoring; applying their own set of rules; or just dropping out of society as we knew it. But by the end of the decade everyone just wanted to take a deep breath, take a step back. and start anew. That refresh led us to look for comfort, a new beginning. My thought, is that this change sparked the development of the Bean Bag Chair which then exploded in popularity. Start with the design of the first chairs in the shape of an egg, a sign to all of us as the beginning of a new life. With so many shattered dreams of hope from the 60's, a new beginning was desperately sort after. We were also looking for comfort, and the Bean Bag Chair conforms to our body, making more points of body contact than any other chair, a cradling effect, creating a sense of security, as calming to us as rocking in our mother's arms, or eating comfort food. And that new shape, for a chair? Was a sure sign that we are not doing things the way we use to, we're breaking old rules.

Today, the Bean Bag Chair's usefulness, simplicity in design, and casualness, keep it in vogue for the young. Sure sales will ebb and flow, but there are new college freshmen every year. I am quite sure, with the comfort that the Bean Bag Chair offers, it will stay desirable for decades to come.

Doug is the owner of Kicking It in the Dorm.com, one stop shopping for Bean Bag Chairs and Foam Furniture (Chairs & Sofas). I am always interested in your special memories of bean bag chairs! Send me a story to be posted on our memory wall! Come take a look at us, new products all the time, tell us what you think! Kickingitinthedorm.com