HG DESIGN
64 | AUSTRALIAN HOUSE & GARDEN
ACAPULCO
CHAIR
the chair endures. Perhaps one name we
may associate with it is the Mexican designer
Cecilia Leon de la Barra, who claims she
christened the chair the Acapulco in 2000.
Today, no one imports Mexican originals
into Australia. Canadian Innit Designs,
Danish firm OK and the German Acapulco
Design respectively service the
North American and European
markets, and conceivably might
export here – at a price. Benjamin
Caja of Acapulco Design is on a
crusade to counter the perception that
the Acapulco is merely for poolside or the
garden, seeing much broader uses for it.
“It was love at first sight. The design and its
Mid-Century style were overwhelming,”
Cada told American Express Essentials
magazine. In its homeland, it’s so much
more, he adds. “You see it in stores, cafes,
bars and restaurants, as an interior product
and in public places. The chair works
perfectly in many environments.”WHAT IT MEANS TO US
Laidback and breezy, the Acapulco is an
easy fit with the Australian lifestyle, but it’s
been hamstrung by its patio image. Local
firms imported chairs bearing the labels
‘Hecho en Mexico’ (made in Mexico) in
the Noughties, but they were stymied by
freight charges. A single chair shipped from
Mexico retailed for upwards of $450,
which meant handcrafted originals couldn’t
compete with cheaper lookalikes from
China, available under many guises.
Bunnings’ Marquee Verna Acapulco retails
at a slim $38, while Matt Blatt’s take, in a
wider colour range, retails for $135 – not
surprisingly, these products walk out the
door. These lookalikes all use the simple
hoop frame, not the sinuous pear-shaped
frame of the original Acapulco. And forget
a secondhand market – few originals remain.
The nature of the materials, even the
rustproofed versions, are not immune to
the ravages of both time and weather. #Frenchman’s conception, these movers
and shakers brought the chairs back to their
vacation homes in Palm Springs, where they
took pride of place around Mid-Century
pools and cabanas.
There they faded in the sun – and,
eventually, from the public consciousness.
Until the turn of the 21st century, that is,
when all things ‘retro’ were dusted off. With
the sun shining on Palm Springs style once
more, companies in North America, Europe
and Australia imported chairs directly from
Mexico, where craftspeople had been
making them uninterrupted since 1953,
albeit with more durable PVC cord instead
of natural fibres in more recent times. And
the elegant pear-shaped frame of the original
chair was often sidelined by a simple hoop,
which was cheaper and easier to produce.
While the name of the monsieur who
masterminded the chair is adrift in the mists
of time – probably the only iconic design of
which we don’t know the inventor’s name – Photograph by Maree Homer/bauersyndication.com.au.Acapulco chairs, pictured here in sunny
yellow and elegant black, are ideal for
Australian conditions.Design moment
Born of a sticky situation, this bright and breezy seat
thoroughly enjoys time in the sun, writes Chris Pearson.A
s a French tourist shuffled
uncomfortably on his chair in the
stifling Acapulco heat, he began
pondering ways to keep his cool. Having
enjoyed the breezy comfort of open-string
hammocks at the Mexican resort, he thought
why not create a chair on similar principles.
So he devised a lightweight seat using string
cords slung across a sinuous metal frame
with splayed legs. Local craftspeople quickly
adopted his concept, fashioning the chairs
in their workshops by wrapping cords in
kaleidoscopic colours around
powdercoated-steel frames.
The designer wasn’t the only tourist in
town. Jetsetters of the 1960s and 1970s –
movie stars and socialites such as Frank
Sinatra and Ava Gardner, John and Jackie
Kennedy, and Elizabeth Taylor and Richard
Burton – all flocked to the chic it-destination.
Elvis Presley, too, frolicked there in the
movie Fun in Acapulco in 1963. Seduced
by the airy elegance of the anonymous