Typically found with canvas as its primary upholstery, the butterfly chair gets a chic, edgy leather update from Urban Outfitters. Originally designed in the late 1930s in Buenos Aires, the chair (also known as a BKF chair, named after creator Jorge Ferrari Hardoy and his design partners, Antonio Bonet and Juan Kurchan) itself was a modernization of its predecessor by several decades — the Tripolina chair.
The Museum of Modern Art houses one of the chairs from a trio that was commissioned in 1940 by the MoMA design director at the time; a second chair still sits in Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater” house, while the third is unaccounted for. Many furniture designers have since tried their hand at replicating the classic piece; Urban Outfitters’ version in particular is available only on the web for $199. 28” wide across seat, 34” wide across back, 33” high.
