This chaise longue is named after the supernatural djinni (genie) of the Koran. It became particularly famous after furnishing the futuristic rotating Hilton in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Olivier Mourgue created undulating, low-slung seating for both home and office environments, experimenting with color and material as well as flexibility and disposability (zip-off nylon jersey covers could be changed by season). He grew up in a Paris apartment filled with Empire-style antique furniture, which he detested. "Furniture like that has nothing to do with life," he proclaimed in 1965. "One is never at ease in such rooms." Ease, achieved through groundbreaking form, became a hallmark of Mourgue's work. He trained in Paris as well as Finland and Sweden and by his mid-twenties was recognized as an innovative—even shocking—leader in furniture design.
Gallery label from Shaping Modernity: Design 1880-1980, December 23, 2009–ongoing.
