Olivier Mourgue, Bouloum Chaise Longue, Airborne Editions 1969/1970

Olivier Mourgue, Bouloum chaise longue, produced by Airborne around 1969. Anthropomorphic structure in fiberglass, foam, and wool flannel. Height, 66 cm; length, 150 cm; width, 66 cm. Shipping cost upon request.

Bouloum, Olivier Mourgue's anthropomorphic armchair, originated as an exercise in imagination and visual poetry. It is based on a seating object cut from plywood that Mourgue created in 1968. He took this object with him on his travels and photographed it in settings ranging from the countryside to Manhattan. Bouloum was the nickname of Mourgue's childhood friend, the photographer Patrick Degommier. In 1970, Mourgue developed a whole series based on this object, including a lounge chair of the same shape and other seats inspired by the forms of leaves, butterflies, airplanes, dolls, kites, and birds.
The Bouloum series was produced by the Airborne company, for which Mourgue had been designing furniture since the early 1960s. Bouloum armchairs were used in the French pavilion at the 1970 Osaka World Expo, where they also served as signage and seating in a cinema and cafeteria.

Here is an advertising slogan from the time about the Bouloum: “As comfortable as it is provocative, you simply have to experience the Bouloum to truly understand it. But be careful… once you’ve tried it, you’ll want one for yourself — it’s that comfortable.”