Jan Bočan armchairs as seen in Bugonia

Around the shimmering pool in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia, a set of remarkable Jan Bočan armchairs appear – striking examples of Czech Brutalist design translated into furniture form. Their sculptural elegance and uncompromising simplicity make them perfectly at home in Lanthimos’ unsettling yet beautiful world.

Jan Bočan (1937–2010) was not only an architect and urban planner but also one of the leading voices of Czech Brutalism. Alongside Jan Šrámek and Zdenka Rothbauer, he won the prestigious RIBA Award in 1971 for the Czechoslovak Embassy in London, and the following year the trio created the embassy in Stockholm – a building defined by rationality, robustness, and sculptural clarity. It was here that Bočan’s armchair design found its natural environment: concrete, metal, and glass softened by the chair’s graceful plywood curves.

The armchair features a precisely scrolled backrest that echoes the fluid bend of its light frame, ingeniously formed from a single piece of bent plywood. Likely manufactured by Ton (the successor to Thonet’s factories in Czechoslovakia), the chair carries forward the legacy of Michael Thonet’s pioneering bentwood technique.

Never mass-produced, these chairs remain exceptionally rare, making them highly sought after by collectors. Their limited availability only adds to their allure – especially now, with their screen presence in Bugonia cementing their place in cinematic and design history.

You can find these chairs on vintage marketplaces from time to time, such as those pictured from 1stDibs.