Four years after the end of World War Two, a furniture exhibition was held in Stuttgart that attracted considerable interest. Its title was a question that inevitably preoccupied many Germans at the time: Wie wohnen? – How to live at home? The centrepiece of the fair was a fully furnished four- room home designed by the architect Egon Eiermann. He chose furniture in wood, steel tubing, plywood and other materials, placing them casually about the place. These pieces included a number of his own creations, among them the basket chair E 10. With its central trunk foot and deep hollow seat opening out like a flower, this lounge chair served as an international prototype for many similar designs that followed (especially well-known is Isamu Kenmochi’s easychair from 1961). Comfortable yet aesthetically rigorous and attractive, this chair is one of the masterpieces of the prolific architect/ designer, although it has not achieved anything like the popularity of some other Eiermann furniture. It is a piece of seating sculpture which demonstrates Eiermann's fascination with organic shapes and can only be made by hand. A skilled basket-weaver needs around 25 hours. Only rattan is used. The flexible canes are stiffened through the weave and become very strong. Internal bracing in the base gives the design further stability. It is immediately apparent that the shaft, seat, arm rests and back form an organic whole.

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