The Chair With Balls Inside The Chatwal's Fitness Center

October 21, 2010 at 10:00 AM | by MsRebecca | Comments (0)

From its Deco bars to its leather-wrapped guest-room walls, The Chatwal New York is a new hotel that's also a throwback to the Jazz Age. But when we got a peek at the hotel's new spa and fitness center recently, we also got an eyeful of this...

Now, it's not a classic piece from any Art Deco period we know of, nor does it look like a piece of gym equipment to get us as whipper-snapper slim as a flapper. So what the hell is it?

Clearly it's a chair--and one our dogs would go bananas for. (Seriously, remind us never to bring her here lest we end up paying for the inevitable irreparable damage.)

We don't know why this particular piece was chosen for this otherwise unassuming corner of the fitness center, but we do know that the chair was designed by Hugh Hayden, an architect, artist and designer from Dallas who is now based in New York City.

It's called the Hex Chair and it's made entirely of recycled tennis balls and polyester cord. Hayden has made versions from balls played in the US Open and done other pieces for a ball-heavy exhibition in a New York Hayden-Harnett boutique (no relation).

Our favorite part of this story is that Hayden was inspired by a house party he attended during his last semester at Cornell. The hosts had filled a room with the brightly colored plastic balls usually seen in a kid's play pen. Without room in his apartment to recreate the same sense of fun, Hayden decided to focus on single pieces of furniture instead.

What's not to love?

Keep your eyes peeled for the Hex chair next time you hit the gym at The Chatwal--it's a good spot for taking a break from the elliptical, no?--and if you see other pieces of unique hotel design, don't forget to take a snap and send it to us!

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