Edra Getsuen armchair
Getsuen is a lily. Masanori Umeda’s armchair takes the form of a flower opening, five petal like projections around a seat, turning a botanical image into functional sculpture. The hand modelled steel structure is wrapped in polyurethane foam and covered in velvet, and the whole moves on small wheels. Rigid in construction and soft in feel, it is among the pieces that made Edra known around the world.
Description
Design Inspiration & Philosophy
In 1990 Umeda brought Edra two small maquettes, delicate flower shaped armchairs, one a lily and one a rose, carrying the enchantment of his garden in Japan on the night of a full moon. Edra fell in love with them and the Flower Collection followed. Getsuen takes its name from the Japanese for garden under a full moon. Umeda made the collection to reconnect design with nature at a moment when industrial furniture had grown severe, which is why the gesture reads as poetic rather than decorative.
Form and Structure
Five petals fold outward from the seat, dramatic in profile yet conceived ergonomically, supporting the back and arms while suggesting softness and growth. The steel structure beneath is modelled by hand, which is what holds those curves without any visible bracing. Velvet carries the rest of the effect, giving the surface the yielding, faintly resistant quality of a real petal under the fingers.
Placement and Movement
Small wheels let the chair be repositioned easily, which matters for an object this expressive, since its relationship to a room shifts with the angle it faces. Getsuen settles as comfortably into a modern interior as a classical one, largely because a flower belongs to no period. Museum representation and three decades of publication have made the silhouette instantly legible, so the chair announces itself well before anyone identifies its author.
Covering Options
Getsuen comes in a single size across a wide range of coverings.
– Hand modelled steel structure with polyurethane foam padding
– Velvet covering across the Edra colour range
– Small wheels for easy repositioning
– Single size, seat height 46 centimetres
– Coordinating Rose Chair and Soshun stool from the Flower Collection
Perfect For
– Collectors seeking a documented icon of late twentieth century design
– Statement corners where one object is meant to carry the room
– Interiors restrained enough to take a flower at full scale
– Clients drawn to the Memphis and postmodern lineage behind Umeda
– Gallery, showroom and lobby settings needing an immediate focal point
– Households ready to live with a chair as a work in its own right
A flower given the weight of a chair, and a chair given the manners of a flower. More than three decades on, Getsuen stays in production because nothing since has replaced what it does.
