FROG CHAIR
By Piero Lissoni, 1995

Not all designs endure like Piero Lissoni’s Frog armchair for Living Divani has. Thirty years on, the Frog continues to sit — wide, low-slung, impossibly relaxed. Introduced in 1995, the Frog earned its name from the way it crouches, as if about to leap. Lissoni, Living Divani’s creative director since 1988, once called the project “bizarre,” admitting its success was far from guaranteed. “When we first looked at it, it seemed too low, too wide — the proportions were a little wrong,” he recalls. But, as with many great ideas, what initially seemed off turned out to be just right. Over time, the Frog has evolved and adapted. There’s the original metal-frame version, which works for both indoor and outdoor settings, and padded versions with plush cushions in leather or fabric. In the early 2000s, the Frog’s sister was born: a chaise longue, stretching its silhouette into something more languid. But the Frog isn’t just a study in form — it’s also an innovative exploration of material. In 2015, for its 20th anniversary, Living Divani unveiled the Frog in ultra-light carbon fiber — a whisper of a chair, its weight reduced to a mere 5.5 pounds. That year, artist Paul Kopkau reimagined this high-tech iteration of the Frog into a readymade all-American rocking chair, bound in duct tape and PVC pipes, for the Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau: A 21st Century Show Home exhibition at the Swiss Institute in New York — asserting the chair’s cultural resonance beyond the design world. “The Frog’s design is both iconic and adaptable,” says Carola Bestetti, CEO of Living Divani. “It remains one of our bestsellers year after year.” Three decades on, the Frog continues to leap effortlessly between past and present, remaining a go-to for design lovers who appreciate its simplicity, comfort, and unmistakable style.