Funky Fiberglass Loungers
Did you know pool lounge chairs could be so beautifully designed that they become pieces of art? I didn’t, until about a year ago when I stumbled upon a yellow and blue pair of Fibrella lounge pool chairs. I was hooked and begged my wife to let me bring them home.
This fascination with vintage fiberglass/plastic furniture inspired me to see what other unique pool loungers were waiting for me to discover them. Here are four pieces of vintage outdoor fiberglass furniture to keep your eyes out for when estate sale hunting (some a little easier to find than others)!
Fibrella
These were my first love, the Fibrella poolside furniture pieces by Le Barron Pool & Patio Furniture. Information about the history of Fibrella is limited, though, according to retrorenovation.com, Aquaslide 'N' Dive of El Monte, California may have had their hands in the manufacturing of these pieces through the 60s and 70s.
Fibrella did not limit themselves to just lounge chairs. They also had patio tables and chairs that have a design just as funky.
Eurolax R1 Lounge Chair designed by Charles Zublena
Italian designer, Charles Zublena, designed this beauty for the French company Plastiques de Bourgogne. He created multiple versions of plastic pool chaise lounges like the Eurolax R1, which was designed explicitly for “Club Med” in 1965. This piece would be rare to find at an estate sale in the United States, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. Keep your eyes out!
Marc Newson Orgone Chair and Chaise Lounge
Australian designer, Marc Newson, has designed for big-name companies like Apple, Louis Vuitton, and Nike, just to name a few. His first well-known lounge chair was the LC1 Lounge that he created at the age of 23 in 1986. In 1989 he released the Orgone Lounge, which was inspired after surfboards.
Ten years later, in 1998, Newson created the Plastic Orgone Chair. This chair was designed to be made inexpensively and have a lower price tag. I would love to pair one of these chairs with the chaise lounge, though I might have a hard time putting them outside even if they were made to handle the weather.
Sunball Chair
This chair is one of those “let’s dream big” chairs. These are incredibly rare, and the odds of finding one in the wild is next to none, but not impossible. Imagine how cool you would look by your pool, catching some rays in one of these beauties. It was designed by German Sculptor Gunter Ferdinand Ris and German designer/architect Herbert Selldorf for the company Rosenthal in Germany.
One of these will set you back around $20,000, but it might be well spent when you think about how impressed your friends will be. I can’t help but think maybe the guys from Daft Punk own one or two of these.
You are not limited to just the above four brands. There are other brands of fiberglass pool furniture that have been manufactured over the years. The records surrounding these companies, along with the companies themselves, are long gone. It seems that there were many popup manufacturers and brands of fiberglass pool furniture that lasted for a short while before quickly disappearing. This makes the hunt even more special. Next time you are estate sale shopping, keep your eyes out for one of these funky loungers.
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