The History Of Bean Bags And The Bean Bag Chair

Bean bags started out in life in a variety of four different shapes, these being the teardrop, armchair, cylinder and sack. Over time the range of shapes has expanded and bean bags are now available as sofas and gaming chairs, with extra large dimensions being one of the more popular of modern times there are even bean bags available for kids and dogs!

The bean bag chair dates back to the 1960's although their is no definitive answer as to who came up with the idea as history presents two different candidates who were thought to have pioneered the bean bag.

The first candidate to have created the bean bag chair is a man named Roger Dean who is probably more famous for his paintings rather than his furniture design and designed some well known album covers for the music industry. Roger Dean created designed the "sea urchin chair", made of foam and a sphere shape the chair conformed to the body creating an extremely comfortable place to rest. Made up of 12 different sections which were glued together and covered if soft fur, the chair featured in the cult film classic "A Clockwork Orange".

In Italy, 1969 3 designers named Teodora, Gatti and Paolini form the second story for the origins of the bean bag chair. They designed a chair for the Zanotta Company which was pear shaped, made of leather and filled with Styrofoam beans. The design is much closer to the bean bags that we now know and is still available to buy in stores today.

The first American company to produce a version of the bean bag chair came over a decade later in the late 1970's when Kenneth Edmunds formed his company, The Minneapolis Cuddlebag Bean Bag Co. The Cuddlebag chairs were covered with leather and contained thick Styrofoam pellets making them a common piece of decorative furniture during the disco pop culture.

Over the years bean bags have come with many different filings. The preferred fill for a bean bag chair is recycled Styrofoam beans due to their eco-credentials, especially in today's environmentally conscious age. In the past the bags have been filled with dried beans, Styrofoam pellets, and PVC pellets. During the 90's the bean bag chair underwent a few drastic design changes and common filling was changed to shredded polyurethane foam, providing much improved comfort levels.

The bean bag chair hasn't been without its controversies as earlier versions presented a serious health risk to small children. Due to the risk of suffocation, the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) recalled over 120,000 in the United States alone. Bean bags have from this time forward always been designed with child-proof zippers to minimise any risk.

In 1998 the first bean bags to be produced with removable, water repellant covers were made by Ahh! Products. During the early part of the 2000's, sales of bean bag chairs enjoyed resurgence due to its retro appeal and numerous appearances on reality television shows such as Big Brother, 60 minute makeover, Britain's next top model and the Xtra Factor.

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Bakedbean.co.uk sell a large selection of bean bags and bean bag chairs from designers such as fatboy bean bags, Bazaarbags, Marimekko and Metahlowski.