The Ugliest Chair in the Universe

Would you pay $28.5 million for a chair?

Believe it or not, Greek shipping mogul Dinos Martinos did. Apparently someone forgot to tell him about the current economic crisis. Or that his taste, well, kinda stinks. This is likely one of the ugliest chairs I've ever seen and boy have I seen my fair share of uglies.

When my editor pointed me in the direction of this story, I thought that for almost $30 million, this chair had better go to work for you, fold your laundry and cook dinner. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it's just a hideous chair. We can only speculate as to why Mr. Martinos would purchase such an ugly chair. Maybe he has a Where The Wild Things Are theme room? Perhaps he's building a dragon's lair or a prehistoric pub room.

The chair was purchased at Christie's in Paris at the Yves St. Laurent auction by Cheska Vallois, an Art Deco dealer, for Mr. Martinos. Aptly named the Dragon Chair, it is about 90 years old and was designed by Irish designer Eileen Gray. In the beginning, there was some controversy as to who purchased the chair, thought to be Henry and Marie-José Kravis but this was later corrected. Christie's expected the chair to go for somewhere around $3.5-$4 million, and many staff and attendees were flabbergasted at the winning bid.


Note to self: never send an art dealer to bid at auction on my behalf.

Want more ugly? Instead, how about we show you how to fix your ugly appliances.