El Purista presents the smokers’ armchair RA 1.15 at the InterTabac 2015. RA 1.15 is designed for private homes and cigar lounges. The armchair is made of molded beech and walnut wood and offers the cigar aficionado a personal retreat to relax, smoke, and enjoy. Drawers made with Spanish cedar are built into the armrests. These drawers serve as repositories for smokers’ utensils. When opened, the Spanish cedar spreads its characteristic scent known from humidors.
The Chilean architect, Rodrigo Gonzalez, and the German lawyer, Alexander Sauer, conceived the idea of RA 1.15. An unfolding flower blossom and an open cigar box inspired them. The design process also followed Charles Eames’ credo that the recognition of need is a condition of good design. The armchair is in available in two sizes and hence can be adapted to customers’ needs.
The upholstery of the RA 1.15 is made of pure, ecofriendly aniline leather. This leather has a characteristic smooth and soft touch. The natural leather boasts a particularly high breathability and comfort. This aniline leather is dyed in a barrel where the transparent dyes penetrate the material and color the skin. No artificial pigments are applied to the surface. By doing so, the skin pores remain open and preserve natural features such as thorns, cracks, and insect bites. These characteristic features attest to the authenticity and high quality of
this type of leather.
Only trees from sustainable German forests are used for RA 1.15’s corpus. The beech trees are harvested at the age of about 120 years. The trees used in RA 1.15 were likely young shoots at the time of the discovery of X-rays by the physicist W.C. Roentgen and the publication of the book The Time Machine by H.G. Wells in 1895. The inner layer of the chair body is made of beech wood and the top layer of walnut veneer. Other top veneer layers and a wide range of colours are available on request.
The production of RA 1.15 is complex and demands the highest standards of precision and artisanship. Expert handcraft is of the utmost importance in the manufacturing and processing of aniline leather, the preparation of the plywood, the assembly of the drawers, and the fitting of the covers. All these elements ensure that every RA 1.15 is unique. The chair is completely made in Germany.
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