What is a papasan chair?

A papasan chair makes an excellent addition to any type of room, whether your interior is modern or traditional it will make no difference, it will sit beautifully in any room. In terms of style a papasan chair sits somewhere between a formal chair and the more informal bean bag chair. If you’re reading this page it’s likely that you know what a papasan chair is, but if you don’t let me explain.

Papasan chairs come in three pieces – there is a large rounded bowl-shaped chair part, a cushion that fits in to this bowl and a base. The chair part fits in to the base rather like an egg does in to an egg cup. So, just as you can change the angle of the egg in the cup, you can change the angle of the bowl shaped chair in the base. The picture shown below should make all of this clearer. This infinite adjustment means that you can find and change as you please the perfect seating position.

The traditional papasan cushion of the chair is typically thick linen or corduroy type material filled with cotton fluff. More modern papasan cushions come in a wider variety of materials such as leather, suede and strong nylon that is suitable for outdoor use. If you’re looking to buy papasan cushions now though it’s more than likely it will be filled with foam chips. In almost all cases the cushion of the chair is independent of the frame and so it can be taken out an used as a separate cushion wherever you want.

The chair has a rattan base constructed using traditional methods and natural materials and comes in a variation of sizes. All are very much based upon the original concept retaining its original charm and ethnic feel. The most popular premium chair comes in 36” – known as the Junior Papasan Chair. Alternatively, the double Papasan chair or loveseat Papasan is 48”x 60” and if required would complete a matching suite for the single iconic chair.

There are differing views as to when exactly the Papasan chair was originally designed - during the mid 1960’s in the Philippines and then brought over to the U.S or alternatively it was designed earlier to this date and brought over to the U.S in the 1950’s. All this considered the concept travelled over from its origination place and quickly became a somewhat iconic piece of furniture spreading throughout the world. Its design has proved to be and continues to be as modern and quirky as the day the concept was originated.

There have been a range of alternative designs that have been manufactured based upon the original design but these are not typical. Most of the variations to its design consist of an alternate use of materials be it strong wicker or even wood frames which still up to a point is still in-keeping to the original.

In the past five years ‘camping type’ chairs have copied the papasan style of seat, the frame is usually constructed of metal or plastic so that the base part can be folded into itself and transported or stored more easily. Even though this is seemingly a strong idea the bowl shaped seat has no adjustable, but the generic bowl shape is still comfortable and looks different from your normal camping type chairs.