The Story of Tripp Trapp® : MoMA 2012

When a product is celebrated time and time again by leading designers, historians and curators around the world you know it's pretty special.

Tripp Trapp® celebrates its 40th birthday this year yet this iconic chair is still modern in every single way.

I've had the pleasure of spending time with Tripp Trapp's designer, Peter Opsvik. He's inspiring, calming, practical and amazing. Traits you can see oozing out of each and every one of the products he has crafted throughout his career.

I asked him once, how the chair that he created 40 years ago was still being hailed as the epitome of modern design. He replied that he simply didn't follow fashion.

If Tripp Trapp® had been inspired by early 70's design it would now look very dated indeed.

You only have to look back to 1972 to see how true that statement is.

1. Pong the now iconic Atari classic, the forerunner of all electronic games, launched in December 1972.

2. An example of a classic family dining room in 1972.

3. The crew of Apollo 17 touch down on the moon for what was to become the last manned lunar landing in history.

4. June 1972, Hewlett Packard launch the HP-35, the worlds first handheld scientific calculator.

5. Kodak Pocket Instamatic 100, the first pocket sized, mass produced 110 film camera.

6. Kenner Blythe Doll, so ahead of her time with her oversized head and huge colour changing eyes, Blythe was dropped after just 12 months due to poor sales only to make a huge comeback in 2001 due to pressure from a cult hardcore following.

7. The innovative Olivetti Girls ad campaign of '72. If you worked in an office and used an electronic typewriter all you had to do was talk your boss into getting you a new Olvetti Typewriter and you'd become a member of this elite group of stylish, fashionable, super fast, super neat, super sharp, super cool office girls.

And this is where my history of Tripp Trapp® completely falls apart because yes, its the same. 

What I can say is that with Tripp Trapp®, Peter Opsvik truly revolutionised the way that children's products are designed and he's gone on to make a career out of rethinking sitting.

If you are in New York before November 5th, stop by MoMA's new Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900-2000 exhibition, experience our maxi set and rethink sitting for yourself.

I'll leave you with this short video presented by the exhibition's curator and Peter explaining Tripp Trapp® in his own words.

And the name? Yes those Three Billy Goats Gruff may just have inspired it.

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