Found: Eames Style Lounge Chair with Tulip Base

I have a new friend:

I have been a huge fan of the Eames lounge chair for some time now.  At first, I encountered its funky and slightly alien design with reserved dislike, which transitioned to appreciation, and finally, fond admiration.  How can you dislike a chair that looks EXACTLY LIKE ET????  [Like seriously people…Steven Spielberg must’ve had one of these in his office.  I can’t not-see this.]

This is not an authentic Eames production, but I must say, I think I like the tulip base better than the original 5-point base… (True Eames fans would, at this juncture, burn me at the stake.)

I found this delightful reproduction listed on Craigslist as a “Leather Gaming Chair”…!  It’s true, it is real leather, and due to its cushy cushions and reclining and swiveling functions, Bryan agrees that it would make an excellent gaming chair – but lucky for me they didn’t include any mention of its grander design inspirations!

I count myself extremely lucky to have found this, but would you believe I’m about to get my hands on its twin?!  The couple selling the chair had a second one, which wasn’t initially for sale, but once we got this guy home we loved it so much that I sent them an email offering to buy the other if they ever wanted to part with it.  Fingers crossed that we get to pick it him up on Wednesday.

I think I’ll call them “Eamesy” and “ET”.

It is NOT weird to name your furniture.  Everything should have names.  This is a point of reality that Bryan and I debated when we first met. (He walked up to me in a coffee shop and flatly contradicted me on the subject).  I was/am correct.

Are you a fan of the Eames lounge chair?  Is it sacrilege to possess a not-completely-authentic version?  Do you like “ET”?

UPDATE: For anyone interested, the second chair arrived safely, and this one had a label: American Atelier Inc.  It didn’t provide much help in researching the base on this chair, but it did turn up a reproduction Eames lounge chair that the company sold/currently sells.  I also discovered that American Atelier took over Plycraft in the 1970’s, so my style of chair is simply a repro of the original Plycraft loungers based on the Eames loungers.  Whew!  I still have not found any Eames-style chairs with bases like mine – if you have, please leave a link/photo/comment to let me know!