Kangaroo Chair and Garden Egg – Plastic furniture in the GDR
Furniture design from the GDR is often associated with functional, durable furniture for everyday use. Less well known is the fact that the GDR was involved in international production and trade networks in furniture design and developed into an important manufacturing centre for modern plastic furniture. Two objects from the DDR Museum Depot illustrate this particularly well: the Kangaroo Chair and the Garden Egg.
Plastic as the material of the future
From the late 1950s onwards, new plastics transformed furniture design around the world. The material was considered modern, lightweight and highly versatile. Space Age design in particular would have been almost unthinkable without synthetic materials: organic shapes, bold colours and futuristic designs could be produced more easily and cost-effectively. The style was shaped by the Space Race, enthusiasm for technological innovation and visions of how people might live in the future.
Plastic also played an important role in the GDR. From the late 1950s onwards, the SED leadership promoted the expansion of the chemical and petrochemical industries, which were regarded as key sectors of the socialist economy. The commissioning of the Druzhba (»Friendship«) oil pipeline at the end of 1963 also improved the GDR’s supply of Soviet crude oil, creating favourable conditions for the production of modern plastic products. Before long, the GDR was producing furniture inspired by international design trends that also proved successful in export markets.
The Kangaroo Chair: Plastic furniture for everyday life
The Kangaroo Chair was designed in the late 1960s by Ernst Moeckl (1931–2013) for the Horn company in Rudersberg, Baden-Württemberg. The aim was to create a cantilevered, stackable plastic chair that was both lightweight and sturdy. Its widely splayed legs are particularly distinctive. Resembling a kangaroo’s hind legs, they gave the chair its name.
The chair was presented at the Cologne Furniture Fair in 1972, with production beginning in Rudersberg shortly afterwards. From 1973, it was also manufactured at the Petrolchemisches Kombinat Schwedt in the GDR. This was made possible by the GDR’s well-developed petrochemical industry, favourable production conditions and economic cooperation between West German companies and East German enterprises. For West German companies, the GDR was an attractive production location, while exports provided the socialist state with valuable foreign currency.
From the mid-1970s onwards, polyurethane (PUR) furniture was produced in large quantities in the GDR. Initially, however, it remained unpopular in private homes. Many people found its futuristic shapes unfamiliar, and the furniture was also relatively expensive. While traditional wooden furniture continued to be preferred, the weather-resistant Kangaroo Chair was particularly well suited to patios, gardens and weekend homes.
The chair was especially widespread in public spaces in the GDR. To make full use of production capacity in Schwedt, the furniture was increasingly manufactured for large-scale customers. Kangaroo Chairs soon appeared in hotels, holiday homes, canteens, ice cream parlours and outdoor swimming pools. For many people, they became a familiar part of everyday life in the GDR. In this way, a design that had originated in West Germany became embedded in collective memory as a piece of furniture that is now frequently associated with the GDR.
The Garden Egg: Futuristic design for export
The so-called Garden Egg has a similar production history. The capsule-shaped garden chair was developed in the late 1960s by Peter Ghyczy (1940–2022) for Elastogran, a company based in Lemförde, Lower Saxony. The piece combined futuristic design with practical functionality: when closed, its upper half protected the seat cushions from rain and the elements.
The prototype was presented at the Cologne Furniture Fair in 1971, and series production began shortly afterwards in Rentrop and Munich. At the same time, part of the production was moved to the GDR. From 1972, the Garden Egg was manufactured in Bernsdorf, Saxony, and later also in Senftenberg, Brandenburg, giving rise to the name »Senftenberg Egg« that is still commonly used today.
The GDR placed a strong emphasis on exporting modern PUR furniture to the West. Production in Bernsdorf was primarily intended for the West German market, while other locations such as Schwedt were expected to focus more heavily on supplying the domestic market.
Despite this export focus, larger quantities of the furniture also reached East German shops from the mid-1970s onwards. Between 1972 and 1975, for example, around 15,000 Garden Eggs were sold in the GDR. At around 430 marks, however, the chair remained a luxury item. Unlike other plastic furniture such as the Kangaroo Chair, the Garden Egg was therefore rarely seen in everyday life in the GDR. Rather than representing mass consumption, it stood for modern design, the export economy and the GDR’s efforts to embrace international trends in home furnishings despite limited consumer choice.
East-West connections in furniture design
Both pieces illustrate how closely East and West remained connected in the field of design despite their political separation. The GDR was not only a manufacturer of functional everyday furniture for its own domestic market, but also a production centre for modern plastic furniture destined for international markets.
The Kangaroo Chair and Garden Egg therefore exemplify an often overlooked aspect of furniture production in the GDR: many designs originated in the West but were also manufactured in East German factories – cost-effectively, in large quantities and often for export.
