Peacock chair

Ilustration by Reza Bassiri

In 1914, the El Paso Herald magazine in America published an article entitled "Prisoner in the Peacock Chair". The title follows the text:

"Birds of the same feather flock together" says the saying. The picture shows a Philippine prison, and in the striped feathers in which the convicts were dressed, a female prisoner is enthroned in a magnificent peacock chair. The chair got its name from its beautiful backrest. Made of bamboo, a light wood that skillful Filipinos use very skillfully in the production of furniture. The woman shown in the picture with her baby, who was born in prison, is serving a life sentence for murdering her husband.'' Although neither the identity nor the exact verdict was ever revealed, wealthy Westerners are becoming interested in the chair on which the convict sits?!

Who could have imagined that behind the story about the enormous popularity of the chair was hidden such a dark revelation of it. At the time the photo was published, Bilibid Prison in Manila was more than just a prison. It was a real factory, they even had a store. The prisoners produced rattan and bamboo furniture, including peacock chairs. In 1916, Vogue writes an article about trade in the Far East and says that a stop at the Bilibid prison shop is a must and assures its readers that the things made there cannot be obtained anywhere else in the world.

In the Victorian period, during the warm summer season, people spent a large part of their time on terraces and other airy parts of the house, which required a certain type of furniture. Of course, there were no air conditioners, so, marketing did its job therefore wicker furniture was suggested as a safe way to cool the house or to "bring the summer inside". Although wicker furniture was produced in both America and Europe, the one from Asia stood out for its style. The Peacock Chair was also known as the "Manila" and the "Philippines" chair. Made of rattan (a type of palm that grows in Southeast Asia), it is light but extremely strong. The base is shaped like an hourglass, and the wide and high backrest is the reason why it bears this unique name - because it looks like the spread tail of a peacock in all its beauty.

Wicker chairs are becoming a standard when taking portraits, they are also called "photographic chairs". Not only were they light and practical to move around for photography purposes, their design made them an extremely attractive prop. In addition, they had another hidden purpose. They represented social equalization. People took pictures on wicker chairs every day, including political leaders. It made the masses feel powerful and made the powerful more accessible. Many celebrities have been photographed on them, owned them, or were part of movie sets (this scene in the movie My fair lady).

However, in 1964 The Addams family begins to appear on the "small screens" and Morticia Adams sat on her peacock chair in every episode. I was so obsessed with this series as a kid, even though I watched it decades after it was made. Macabre aesthetics is something that is still so close to my heart today ♥️. Well, in that period the chair became known as "Morticia chair".

Huey P Newton, activist and fighter for human rights, co-founder of the organization Black Panther (The Black Panther Party) in 1967 poses on a peacock chair and permanently associates it with the notion of the liberation of African Americans. The photo of Huey holding a spear and rifle, with shields on the wall and a zebra print on the floor, resonated throughout America. I will skip the story about BBP's ideology, but focus on the importance of the chair itself in the whole story. Although unbelievable, but the chair a sbecame a symbol of power, resistance and leadership. So much so that they brought the peacock chair to the stage even when Huey himself did not attend the rallies. The chair spoke for itself 😊 . The photo prop becomes a symbol of the movement.

Who would have thought that this is how you can learn about human consciousness and history - just with a chair. But I guess it makes sense when we look at what good design means. Regardless of the period in which it was created or what its primary purpose is, it outlives both the creator and the idea.

The hippie culture of the 60s and 70s of the 20th century adopted the peacock chair as part of their aesthetics and interior design. I guess you can imagine a smoky room full of floral details, psychedelic wallpaper, plants, tapestries on the walls, tiles on the floor and "flower children" living in a sexual revolution and while experimenting with everything and everyone "fighting for world peace" and a better future''. But right in that sexual revolution, there is a peacock chair again. On the poster for the French erotic film "Emmanuelle", the main actress sits on a peacock chair, and due to its popularity in that period, the chair in France became known as the Emmanuel chair. She was the star of the movement but also of the softcore film, I mean this bitch is versatile 😊 .

Another amazing feature of this chair that makes it popular is the impossibility of being tied to a specific country and culture. She looks African and Asian and European at the same time.

It was created in a Philippine prison, brought to America by rich white people who traveled the world, became a symbol for the freedom of African Americans, through the hippie frenzy to the 21st century where it is a favorite prop for Instagram photos (75 thousand photos under #peacockchair speak for it). Outside the framework of our small country, people make themed wedding celebrations (imagine no trumpets, wedding decorations and apple throwing 😊 ), so a boho celebration is unimaginable without a peacock chair as a central point in the decoration.

Like a throne, it inspires confidence in anyone who sits on it, perhaps that's why there are an infinite number of records with musicians posing on a peacock chair. Vox released this great video last year that shows all those albums and the different poses that were required when taking pictures of her.

In 2016, on the Formation tour, while Jim Morrison is heard in the background, Beyonce is on a metal peacock chair with spears like Huey had in the famous photo. And for such a wow stage performance, we don't have an HD version but these shitty fancams because this lady doesn't give a DVD version of this tour 😊 (ok, this is the last time I mention Formation, I promise).

Virgin Islands artist La Vaugh Belle and Danish artist Jeanette Ehlers presented the sculpture "I am Queen Mary" in Copenhagen in 2018. The character of Maria was created using 3D body scanning technology to create a hybrid body of Bela and Ehlers. She holds a sickle for cutting sugar cane and a torch while sitting on a peacock chair. A quarter of this sculpture is made of stones collected from the ruins of historical buildings in Kristiansted. These stones, which formed the foundations of most buildings in the colonial period, were quarried and carved by enslaved Africans. Jeanette drew inspiration from the photos taken for her performance "Whip it good". "I am Queen Mary" is inspired by the historical figure Mary Thomas, an important leader of the workers' rebellion "Fireburn" in St. Croix. Fireburn began on October 1, 1878, as an uprising against the indentured servitude that continued to bind workers to the plantation system after the abolition of slavery in the former Danish West Indies in 1848. As its name suggests, this rebellion for better working and living conditions involved the burning of most of the city of Frederiksted, as well as the sugar cane fields on a large number of St. Louis plantations. Together with Marie Thomas, three women Akeline Agnes Elizabeth Salomon, Matilde McBean and Susanna 'Bottom Belli' Abrahamsson led the largest labor revolt in Danish colonial history. "I am Queen Mary" talks about many movements and traditions of resistance.

Today, the peacock is both garden furniture and part of the interior just like it used to be. It can be at the head of the dining table, in the corner by the window, in the reading corner, next to the bed in the bedroom, on the terrace, even in hotel lobbies, by the pool or in the "it" locations of restaurants and cafes.

The design itself has not changed much. Its only drawback is that it is very complicated to maintain, cleaning the dust from every slope of this chair is a serious job. They can be found in all colors, and today the materials from which they are made can be different.

As for their value, some older models can cost 2-3 thousand euros, but the average price is around 500. But if you live in America, you can buy them for $10 at a yard sale, craigslist or pick them up by the dumpster...And if you really want to splurge on a peacock chair, and this one isn't boujee enough for you, Marc Ange has created the ultimate peacock chair, the throne of thrones for just 21,000 e. Make it rain 😊.

As a plan B, you can do this.

I'm not gonna do it girl, I'just thinkin' about it, I'm not gonna do it 😉.