‘My favourite chair’. By the world’s great tastemakers

Vincent Van Duysen, architect and designer

I have a collection of vintage furniture, ranging from Brazilian designers like José Zanine Caldas to a lot of pieces by Pierre Jeanneret. I’m proud of my latest purchase, a couple of c1929 armchairs by Eyre de Lanux. They’re stunning, made of mahogany and woven straw; the style is pure, timeless. They’re very hard to get. I bought them from Sotheby’s. De Lanux’s life story is interesting: she was designing furniture and rugs in Paris in the ’20s, and she died in New York at the age of 102. Her designs are radical but so beautiful.

Tom Broughton, founder of Cubitts

I have a dangerous obsession with Isokon furniture from 1934-39. Every piece of furniture in my flat is made from plywood.

Mandy Madden Kelley, entrepreneur

I would never part with my Ox Chair, originally by Hans J Wegner. I found it at a store in LA, Modernica on Beverly Boulevard, and I didn’t know much about it at the time, but I was really drawn to the design – it has the passion of a bull and a real sense of muscle strength. Fast forward to today, and it’s become a collector’s item.

1960s Erik Jørgensen Ox Chair by Hans J Wegner, £9,436, pamono.co.uk

Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, property developer

I’ve fallen in love with some of the Brazilian designers – Joaquim Tenreiro, Sergio Rodrigues and José Zanine Caldas – and I recently bought a 1958 two-seat bench with matching chairs by Tenreiro for our residential project in Notting Hill. I find value in something when it has a story behind it. 

Kim Sion, creative consultant and ceramist

The last things I bought and loved include a set of four emerald-green Italian dining chairs from Everything But the Dog in Walthamstow.

Joe Gebbia, Airbnb co-founder

I have a collection of midcentury modern chairs. Many of the pieces are by Charles and Ray Eames and also by the Dutch designer Gerrit Rietveld, who broke the mould of what furniture was supposed to look like. I have Rietveld’s Red and Blue chair, and also his Zig Zag and Crate chairs. And I have an Eames daybed-like one that they made for the director Billy Wilder, who used it for napping on movie sets.

Wayne McGregor, Choreographer/director

My favourite room is my library, where I can be surrounded by books by brilliant people on a wide variety of topics. The space is light-filled and has my favourite Dieter Rams chair – it’s the perfect place to think things through.

Gaetano Pesce, architect and designer

An object I would never part with is the very first little model of my UP5_6 chair, which I made 54 years ago. I’m very proud of the piece as it said something important politically about women’s freedom – maybe not enough, but more than we usually did at that time. I make models for my designs in my house and if it’s interesting then I bring it to the workshop. So my house is full of ideas and prototypes.

Pierre Mahéo, fashion designer

I have a collection of chairs from many different eras. Some are made with very traditional workmanship – techniques used in the middle of France on a farm – or I have some brutalist chairs from Holland, which have old leather cushions with beautiful patinas. Recently I bought some chairs from a Paris flea market that are carved out of one tree, without screws or anything. They are more like sculptures.

Frida Escobedo, architect

I bought a Knoll Brigadier. It’s a classic leather sofa, very low, designed in the 1960s by Cini Boeri, an Italian female designer. I wanted this sofa for many, many years and I’m really excited that it’s now in my apartment.

Knoll leather three-seater sofa by Cini Boeri, $4,950, 1stdibs.com

Walter Van Beirendonck, fashion designer

The best gift I’ve given recently is a set of chairs to my husband for his birthday that were handmade in Mexico. They aren’t by a notable designer, they are just unusual and beautiful-looking. I like how raw they are, with elements of straw woven into them.

Amanda Wakeley, fashion designer

I bought a pair of black Tibetan lambswool-covered beech chairs by the Czech designer Jindrich Halabala. They are a bit mad but beautifully designed, with incredible sweeping arms.

Kengo Kuma, architect

I added a Danish chair to my furniture collection. The design is human and intimate. I have Mies van der Rohe and Hans Wegner chairs; architects often like uniformity but I like to experiment with different styles.

Erdem Moralioglu, fashion designer

The best gift I’ve given recently was a wicker Basket chair by Nanna Ditzel, which I bought from Sigmar on the King’s Road. Ditzel was a Danish furniture designer, and this piece is typical of her elegant style. 

1950 Ludvig Pontoppidan Basket chair by Nanna Ditzel, €8,000, 1stdibs.com

Hiroki Nakamura, fashion designer

I’ve brought home a pair of brown club chairs, probably from the 1930s, which I got from a dealer at Paris’s Clignancourt flea markets. Usually people reupholster club chairs, but these have the original leather, so they’re kind of worn out but I like how they look. Modern leather doesn’t age as well as old leather, because they produce it differently now.

Ini Archibong, designer

I live in a renovated factory and when I moved in, I decided that the open-plan living area would simply be somewhere for me and my daughter to have a good time. It contains everything from my synthesisers and turntable, to my design tools, books and quite a lot of furniture by the British designer Jasper Morrison, including a pair of Basel chairs and a side table. His work is easy to love.

Gilbert & George, artists

The television room is the only room that we use to relax. We have two big chairs where we can sit, watch a little television – the news in the evening; and maybe on Saturday or Sunday a film in the afternoon. That’s about it. We have the most incredible furniture in there.