The Bertoia Chair on QE2

[Cabin 2066]

Rob, I have to tell you that even though the Bertoia chair might have been trendy in '69, it was god-awful uncomfortable and unstable to boot! On my first trip onboard in May '69, these chairs(if one had to unfortunately sit in one of them) tended to pitch the person in them out more than average and by the middle of the voyage most of the were stacked and secured on the inbound wall. In later voyages into the seventies, I saw fewer and fewer of them and by 1974 most of the trendy furniture was gone, replaced by more sturdy seagoing pieces.
Sometimes the best designs and plans don't survive an oceangoing ship!

[Rob Lightbody]

Rob, I have to tell you that even though the Bertoia chair might have been trendy in '69, it was god-awful uncomfortable and unstable to boot! On my first trip onboard in May '69, these chairs(if one had to unfortunately sit in one of them) tended to pitch the person in them out more than average and by the middle of the voyage most of the were stacked and secured on the inbound wall. In later voyages into the seventies, I saw fewer and fewer of them and by 1974 most of the trendy furniture was gone, replaced by more sturdy seagoing pieces.
Sometimes the best designs and plans don't survive an oceangoing ship!

Thanks for adding a dash of realism!  Whoever chose them should have been sacked!   

[Adam Hodson]

Like someone said on here recently, most liner/ship designers have never set foot on a ship.

Update: it was Rod that was saying about designers not being on board before.

...You seem to forget that a lot of people that design concepts for ships have never been on a ship! They simply do not realize that a ship moves...sometimes quite a bit!

[Rod]

I have mentioned on another thread....about these chairs.....the cushions were held to the frame by "snaps"...easily removable.
In the Jimmy Bence band, there was a musician by the name of "Miff" Mole. His head was shaven.
His party trick was to remove the cushion and give his impression of a turtle using the cushion as his shell.

[June Ingram]

I have mentioned on another thread....about these chairs.....the cushions were held to the frame by "snaps"...easily removable.
In the Jimmy Bence band, there was a musician by the name of "Miff" Mole. His head was shaven.
His party trick was to remove the cushion and give his impression of a turtle using the cushion as his shell.

Very good !!

[Michael Gallagher]

Some other shots of areas featuring the Bertoia Chair

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Thank you, Michael! These look so easy, casual and relaxing. A very different atmosphere from that which I knew in her later life.

[cunardqueen]

Doesnt HMY Britannia have two of these onboard at the rear of the ship ?