Design moment: Eames lounge chair, c 1956

This lounge chair is one of the great modern furniture classics and is probably one of the most famous – or at least familiar – pieces of domestic furniture by the American designer couple Charles and Ray Eames.

Explaining where the spark for the idea came from, Charles said it was an answer to the question: “Why don’t we make an updated version of the old English club chair?”

The essence of their elegant chair’s identifiable clubbiness lies in the materials – wood (it’s been made in various veneers) and leather.

The original wood was a Brazilian rosewood veneer and the curved shape and leather finish was as Charles said to give it the “warm receptive look of a well-used first baseman’s mit”.

Extremely comfortable

And it’s an extremely comfortable piece of furniture especially when paired with its matching ottoman. A sense of lightness – something that’s a feature of most Eames designs – is a further feature. Most club chairs look weighty and fixed – not this lounge chair.

But look closely at this version of the Eames lounge chair and it’s very different thanks to one crucial change – the leather has been replaced with fabric.

Vitra has manufactured the chair under licence since 1959 and this Lounge Chair Twill & Ottoman Design is a limited edition to mark the design’s 60th anniversary – available to buy from this month until January 2017 which almost guarantees its appeal to collectors.