Plexiglas is the trade name for polymethyl methacrylate, a transparent, acrylic thermoplastic. Röhm and Haas Company, Inc., a German chemical company founded in 1907 with an American offshoot established in 1909, discovered the optically clear polymer in 1932 while researching glass laminates. This new plastic came in sheet form and could be heated, molded, and twisted without losing its clarity or strength. In 1936 Röhm and Haas began marketing the product in the United States under the name Plexiglas. About the same time, DuPont introduced a similar material called Pontalite, later renamed Lucite.

Röhm and Haas hired industrial designer Gilbert Rohde to plan their exhibit at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Housed in the Hall of Industrial Science, the exhibit educated visitors on the technical properties of Plexiglas and displayed applications of the material, including this chair. A minimal structural frame of tubular steel supports a smooth, curving sheet of Plexiglas that melds Rohde’s interests in ergonomics with the production capabilities of the material. A contemporary reviewer marveled at the “adventurous” design: “The sheet [of plastic] is not only curved one way, but is depressed to conform to body curves and easy posture.” 

This chair is one of the first known examples of compound-molded plastic furniture, a fabrication method that would not gain wide acceptance until the late 1940s. Rohde’s plan for a full line of Plexiglas furniture was stalled by the requisition of plastics for the war effort; only two of these chairs are known to have been made.