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{{Short description|Chair designed by Pierre Jeanneret and Eulie Chowdhury}}
{{Infobox furniture
| name = Chandigarh chair
| image = File:Pierre-Jeanneret-PJ-SI-29A-Armchair-P-Galerie-Zurich.jpg
| image_size = 250px
| designer = [[Pierre Jeanneret]], [[Eulie Chowdhury]], et al.
| date = 1950s
| materials = Variations of wood / woven cane; wood / leather
| style = [[Modernism#Modernism_in_Asia|Indian Modernism]]
| height = 70.7 cm
| width = 52.4 cm
| depth = 72 cm
}}
[[File:Pierre Jeanneret Chair P! Galerie Zurich.jpg|thumb|Chandigarh chair, side and front views]]

The '''Chandigarh chair''' was designed in the 1950s by [[Pierre Jeanneret]], [[Eulie Chowdhury]] and other Indian designers for use in public buildings in the planned city of [[Chandigarh]]. The city was being developed as part of a major post-independence project and was designed by the architect [[Le Corbusier]], who was invited by Indian prime minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] to create a city for the newly-independent India.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://scroll.in/article/1019840/personal-history-my-grandfather-and-the-humble-backstory-of-a-jeanneret-chair-from-chandigarh|title=Personal history: My grandfather and the humble backstory of a Jeanneret chair from Chandigarh|first=Ajay|last=Gandhi|date=March 20, 2022|website=Scroll.in}}</ref>

The [[Victoria and Albert Museum]] described the design as a "humble-looking wooden chair [that] has become a 20th-century design classic – much revered, reproduced and replicated."<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Chandigarh Chair |url=https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-chandigarh-chair |website=[[Victoria and Albert Museum]]}}</ref>

==Authorship question==
The chairs are sometimes referred to as 'Jeanneret chairs' by auction houses, which overlooks the role of [[Eulie Chowdhury]] (and possibly others) in their creation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Codignola-Bo |first=Federica |date=March 20, 2025 |title=The Symbolic Power of Collectible Design: Mapping a Multifaceted Field.
|url=https://boa.unimib.it/handle/10281/477540 |location= |publisher=Ethics International Press |page=145 |isbn=9781804416518 |access-date=|quote=p.145:...there has clearly been a focus in design in building a narrative and shifting the focus from these being 'Chandigarh chairs' to 'Jeanneret chairs'...thereby creating a new market.}}</ref><ref name="The Tribune-2023">{{Cite web |date=October 15, 2023 |title=Standing Out: Remembering Eulie Chowdhury, the only Indian woman architect in Le Corbusier's Chandigarh Project team |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/chandigarh/standing-out-remembering-eulie-chowdhury-the-only-indian-woman-architect-in-le-corbusiers-chandigarh-project-team-553396/ |website=[[The Tribune (India)|The Tribune]]}}</ref> There is no definitive evidence regarding the true designer of the chair as the workshop set up to design all the furniture worked in a collaborative way, and authorship was not documented.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://phantomhands.in/journal/the-genesis-of-the-chandigarh-chair-furniture-as-infrastructure|title=The Genesis of the Chandigarh Chair: Furniture as Infrastructure|website=Phantom Hands}}</ref>

A Chandigarh-based architect was quoted in ''[[The Tribune (India)|The Tribune]]'': "...the Indian architects were apparently not as keen on claiming authorship. As a result, their work continues to be overshadowed by the Western architects who worked here."<ref name="The Tribune-2023"/> In ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', the Jeanneret expert [[Maristella Casciato]] stated that Chowdhury was "managing" the furniture production and that "she was extremely important in creating that network and supporting the production and all the detailing."<ref name="Medford-2019">{{Cite web |last=Medford |first=Sarah |date=August 14, 2019 |title=Is Your Jeanneret a Fake? |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-your-jeanneret-a-fake-11565785593 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200602163436/https://www.wsj.com/articles/is-your-jeanneret-a-fake-11565785593 |archive-date=June 2, 2020 |website=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref>

==Renewed interest in the late 1990s and subsequent looting==
For most of their history in India, Chandigarh chairs merely served a functional purpose. Their design value has only been recognized since the late-1990s, when European dealers arrived in Chandigarh and started buying them in bulk after they were "thrown out" by the government and "sold for peanuts".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/world/asia/19chandigarh.html|title=A City That Sat on Its Treasures, but Didn't See Them|first=Amelia|last=Gentleman|date=March 18, 2008|website=The New York Times}}</ref> These chairs were taken to the West, restored, exhibited, gained a cult following, and were sold at auctions for significant sums.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cntraveller.in/story/scrap-in-india-star-abroad-the-chandigarh-chair-is-a-hot-mesh/|title=Scrap in India, star abroad: the Chandigarh Chair is a hot mesh|first=Ela|last=Das|date=October 29, 2023|website=Condé Nast Traveller India}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dreith |first=Ben |date=2024-10-25 |title=The Chandigarh chair "problematises standard notions of revival" |url=https://www.dezeen.com/2024/10/25/chandigarh-chair-mid-century-modern-jeanneret-criticism/ |access-date=2026-01-13 |website=Dezeen |language=en}}</ref>

Recent scholarship on the chairs has pointed out several issues associated with their history: overlooking the role of Indian designers in the workshop to play up the "Jeanneret-Corbusier" connection, in order to fetch higher prices in the Western auction houses; their procurement at extremely low rates by European dealers who knew more than their Indian counterparts; and appropriation of the out-of-copyright design by global studios and erasing their historical context during the sale.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://darknlight.com/projects/article/the-chandigarh-chair-exploring-the-nuances-of-a-revival/|title=The Chandigarh Chair: Exploring the Nuances of a Revival|date=March 17, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.epoch-magazine.com/post/modernist-design-from-chandigarh-to-christies|title=Modernist Design: From Chandigarh to Christies'|date=June 1, 2021|website=Epochmagazine}}</ref>

Following a 2011 Ministry of Home Affairs ban on further sales and export of Chandigarh furniture from India, subsequent disappearances and international auctions have involved documented theft and smuggling, with organized networks reportedly bribing officials and forging documentation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Parashar |first1=Saurabh |title=No inventory of hundreds of Chandigarh heritage furniture, says French cop |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/inventory-heritage-furniture-french-police-embassy-9047956/ |website=The Indian Express |access-date=13 January 2026|date=November 30, 2023}}</ref> From 2015 onward, there is also a documented pattern of theft cases inside Chandigarh. Reports detail stolen chairs and tables from institutions such as the [[Government College of Art & Craft]] and [[Panjab University]], consignments intercepted at airports, and internal inquiries against staff involved in unauthorised removals, all occurring after the MHA order came into force.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Parashar |first1=Saurabh |title=Furniture to manhole covers, how rare artefacts found their way out of Chandigarh |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/furniture-to-manhole-covers-how-rare-artefacts-found-their-way-out-of-chandigarh-8270407/ |website=The Indian Express |access-date=13 January 2026 |date=November 16, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Virk |first1=Akashdeep |title=8 years on, heritage furniture gathers dust at police station |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/chandigarh/8-years-on-heritage-furniture-gathers-dust-at-police-station/ |access-date=13 January 2026 |date=October 14, 2024}}</ref> There has been an emergence of a "furniture mafia" and "organised gangs" that bribe officials, forge documents, and even replace originals with replicas to smuggle furniture abroad, explicitly linking this activity to the continued appearance of Chandigarh pieces in international auctions despite the legal ban.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Gakhar |first1=Aashna |title=Chandigarh heritage furniture: Design, legacy & a story of allure |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/guest-column-chandigarh-heritage-furniture-design-legacy-a-story-of-allure-101738432321920.html |website=Hindustan Times |access-date=13 January 2026 |date=February 2, 2025}}</ref>

==Current production==
There are no exclusive licenses for the production of Chandigarh chairs, as Jeanneret "never filed for patents or copyrights".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/ideas/the-complex-constructed-history-of-chandigarh-chairs-111614005107494.html|title=The complex, 'constructed' history of Chandigarh Chairs|first=Shrabonti|last=Bagchi|date=February 23, 2021|website=mint}}</ref> As their popularity has grown in the 21st-century, multiple studios across the world have produced their own versions.<ref name="Medford-2019"/>

==See also==
* [[Chandigarh]]
* [[List of chairs]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* ''[https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/the-chandigarh-chair The Chandigarh Chair]'', [[Victoria & Albert Museum]]
* ''[https://collectiononline.design-museum.de/#/en/object/42784 Untitled / Cane and Teak Wood Easy Armchair, {{circa|1955/56}}]'', [[Vitra Design Museum]]
* [https://chandigarhchairs.com/ The Chandigarh Chair Project]

[[Category:1950s in art]]
[[Category:Chairs]]
[[Category:History of furniture]]
[[Category:Indian furniture]]
[[Category:Individual models of furniture]]
[[Category:Products introduced in the 1950s]]
[[Category:Furniture designed by architects]]

Chandigarh chair - Revision history

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