Bean Bags

When the Bean Bag emerged in the late 60s and 70s it was heralded as the furniture of tomorrow for the well heeled of today. It also started life with a far more chic name than "beanbag". Originally designed in Italy by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro in 1968, the bean bag was originally known as the Sacco Chair.

The Sacco was designed to mould to the shape of any body which might happen to drop into it - a result achieved by filling the bag two-thirds full with millions of styrene granules.

Given the understandable difficulties in patenting a sack of Styrofoam balls it wasn't long before the market was flooded with cheap facsimiles. What was intended to be high-quality designer furnishing quickly degenerated into low-cost, mass-produced space fillers - a perfect bed for the dog.