A Geek Goes Flying

The Chair Back in May, in the middle of an organization kick, I had a KIA Nero EV rental for a few days, and used it to pick up some closet organization stuff at IKEA ( KALLAX shelving units ; DRÖNA inserts ). I’d been thinking about getting a reading chair that would be more conducive to reading and some work, vs. the IKEA FRIHETEN that provides all my living room seating. Somewhere in my reading, I stumbled across someone raving about the POÄNG chair, which has a bit of a cult following and a strong pedigree: No Shame in the Poäng Chair Architectural Digest Poäng: The Little-Known History Of Ikea’s Most Famous Chair Fast Company The Goddamn POÄNG Chair (“[T]he famously frugal IKEA founder and billionaire Ingvar Kamprad, who died in 2018, owned the same POÄNG chair since 1978.”) I wasn’t sure if it would fit my weird, lengthy proportions, so I decided to try one out during my IKEA visit. And, yep, it fits more or less perfectly. So I picked it up with the matching ottoma...

Trying to find a smaller chair + ottoman I can kick back in for listening or reading. As much as I’d love an Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman , it’s a bit out of my budget and takes up a lot of space in my somewhat constrained floorplan (I’m trying to keep some open space for the pups...). Amazon has a slew of ~$75-120 offerings but they’re all kinda sus. (Not to denigrate the good corporate name of the venerable KOMFOTT, but, y’know...) So I stumbled across the IKEA POÄNG chair, which apparently is a long-standing classic , available in a bewildering array of color and cushion combinations.  POÄNG pages from 2002 IKEA catalog The cushions at least have been helpfully summarized by a redditor : Knisa - cheapest and thinnest (“The Knisa is noticeably thinner and less padded than the rest, still comfortable but will wear out faster ...”) Lysed / Vislanda - thicker than knisa, medium durability, kind of a middle ground Hillared - as thick as Lysed, but more durable fabric Glose - leathe...