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From Home Furnishing Business
GUBI Launches Pierre Paulin's Table & Chair at Design Within Reach in North America
May 14,
2025 by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry 
When it first appeared in the late ‘60s, Pierre Paulin’s F300 Loung Chair caused quite a stir. Unlike anything ever seen before, with its fluid curves and novel materiality, it looked like a chair that had somehow been beamed in from the future. Visibly playful and enticingly comfortable, the F300 became an instant icon, prized for its statement looks and tremendous versatility, and earning a place in the MoMA’s permanent collection. Perfectly aligned to the casual, comfort-led low-slung lounge aesthetics of the 1970s, the F300 also embodied a timeliness futurism that has ensured it has never fallen from favor as time has passed.
Like its fellow Paulin chair design, the Pacha, the F300 manages to look like a completely new design concept while still ticking every functional box demanded of a chair as a practical piece of furniture. But where the Pacha is soft, fluffy and pillow-like, the F300- and its companion side table, the T877- is harder and more defined in form, while maintaining a distinctive sculptural fluidity facilitated by its material composition.
“We are delighted to expand GUBI’s portfolio of Pierre Paulin designs beyond the Pacha to include another, equally boundary-breaking design. In its way, the F300 is every bit as iconic as some of the 20th century’s most celebrated chairs. With its utterly distinctive futuristic form, the F300 Lounge Chair has proved itself as timeless as any of the great chairs of modernist design history” - Marie Kristine Schmidt, CEO, GUBI
The first F300 and T877s were produced in fiberglass or injected polyurethane, allowing for contoured ergonomic comfort while maintaining a visually light expression. Responsibly upgraded for the 21st century, the F300 is now crafted in Italy from the engineered polymer HiREK, which is made using industrial plastic waste. Retaining the durability of plastic, HiREK is lightweight and resistant to UV, weathering, and pressure. Most importantly, HiREK produces a smooth, high-gloss surface without requiring additional finishing processes, perfectly replicating the performance and aesthetic of the original materials while minimizing waste created during production.
HiREK lends itself perfectly to Paulin’s penchant for organic, curvilinear forms and bold, minimalist silhouettes. To shape the raw material for the F300 Lounge Chair, GUBI has developed bespoke molds that press the injected HiREK into its final form.
“It’s true that the F300 is a visually striking chair with a distinct playfulness and a strong sense of character, but it’s much more than a photogenic sculptural novelty. The design is rooted in research and a practical understanding of how people sit. Such is the F300’s shape that is almost impossible not to relax when you sit in it.” - Benjamin Paulin, son of Pierre Paulin.
With no flat surfaces anywhere, the F300 is playful in shape and flexible in function, inviting multiple sitting positions- from standard seating to legs slung casually over the side. Like the Pacha, the F300 and T877 work well as standalone statement pieces or can be combined with multiple others as either function or style requires. Thanks to the lightness of the material, both chair and table are highly portable, so they can be spontaneously moved around the house as needed or taken outside for sunny spells.
A selection of colorways adds further versatility to an already highly adaptable design. The F300 is produced in Alabaster White and a characteristically 1970s Pastel Green. The T877 is available in both colors with the addition of Violet Ice, Honey Gold and Mole, enabling it to complement almost any interior aesthetic.
GUBI’s revival of the F300 Lounge Chair returns a second Paulin masterpiece into production, accompanied by its natural companion, the T877 side table- both a vivid demonstration of Paulin’s peerless blend of sculptural sensibility, material sensitivity, and modernist vision. Available at dwr.com and DWR stores across the country.