Ray Komai (American, 1918–2010). Side Chair, ca. 1949. Molded walnut plywood, chromed metal, rubber, 30 1/2 x 22 x 22 1/4 in. (77.5 x 55.9 x 56.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred T. and Caroline S. Zoebisch Fund, 1994.156.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1994.156.1_bw.jpg)
Ray Komai's molded plywood chair was manufactured in Brooklyn in 1949, using the latest American technology. Although European designers such as Marcel Breuer and Alvar Aalto designed plywood furniture in the 1930s, it was the Americans Charles and Ray Eames, in the years immediately after World War II, who realized the full potential of this material and bent one sheet of plywood in several directions. Komai's chair adds a sophisticated anthropomorphic twist. If you look closely, the chair's design suggests a human face.