The Past, Present And Future Of The Hotel Sun Lounger

The sunloungers at Cobblers' Cove

In 1966, Florence Knoll wanted some outdoor furniture for her Florida home. Little did she realize that she was facilitating one of the key leisure inventions of the 20th century. The sun lounger. An essential of any hotel or villa poolside experience or beach. Adjustable, customizable luxury and a strong signifier of status. That recline fully.

A girl in 1885 on an improvised cane sun lounger (Photo by Henry Guttmann Collection/Hulton ... [+] Archive/Getty Images)

Last September Finnish designer Tapio Anttila debuted his Remmus sunlounger at Dubai’s Hotel Show. The backrest has waterproof Bose speakers so you can stream music. There’s a wireless charging station to mist its occupants if they get too hot. When it gets dark, LED lights automatically light up. The lounger also automatically rotates with the sun (or shade if you prefer). It will cost $45,000.

A strandkorb on the island of Sylt (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Before Florence Knoll stretched out and improved all our lives, beach furniture was about sheltering from the wind and the sun. The name strandkorb translates as beach basket in German. Built from wood and wicker, they came into being when, in 1882, Elfriede Maltzahn came into the workshop of furniture maker Wilhelm Bartelmann to ask him for something that would shelter her from the sun and wind. Today Bartelmann’s invention can still be seen along the wide sandy beaches of the Baltic coast.

CORONADO, CA - 1958: Actors Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon on the set of the film ... [+] "Some Like it Hot" on Coronado Beach in Coronado, California. (Photo by Richard C. Miller/Donaldson Collection/Getty Images)

Just like Anttila’s Remmus, strandkorb swivvel to allow people to position them for either sun or shade, they also incorporate foot rests and tables. Go to the German island of Sylt and you can still see the early version, the strandkorb, still positioned on the beach, with striped awnings. They can be packed up and locked each night. But not moved. Traditional strandkorb are extraordinarily heavy.

A couple sunbathing by the sea at Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1955. (Photo by Slim Aarons/Hulton ... [+] Archive/Getty Images)

As part of their impressive engineering, Just like thStrandkorb do recline in a gentle fashion but elsewhere, beach chairs expected their occupants to sit upright. A prime example can be seen in Some Like It Hot as Tony Curtis’s Joe/Josephine takes up position in one to pursue Marilyn Monroe. In the 1930s, the Bauhaus school also turned its attention to the serious subject of relaxation when it produced a rattan chair with an integral footrest. And there were deckchairs, the strandkorb’s cheaper cousins.

Early deck chairs on a cruise ship

'You have to make some decent outdoor furniture, something that is made out of materials that won’t rust and corrode,' said Florence Knoll of Richard Schultz. Over 50 years later, the design he came up with is still commercially produced. With an aluminum frame, and vinyl-coated polyester mesh, it’s light, stylish and, thanks to its wheels, easy to move.

The new hotel on Ios in Greece has sun lunger for every mood.

Today, luxury hotels have turned the sun lounger into an art form. In Greece Calilo, a new 30-suite experiential-minded luxury deep dive on Ios island, has sun loungers for every mood, whether suspended beds, floating loungers within bamboo cabanas and ones that are designed to be semi-submerged into the water. Cobblers Cove has glorious pink parasols and wonderfully comfortable sun loungers. So does, surrounding its pool, does the Maybourne Riviera.

Sunloungers around the swimming pool at the Maybourne Riviera in the South of France.

At Passalacqua, the absurdly beautiful resort on Lake Como, a classic frame is accessorized by dark green upholstery that’s thicker - and more comfortable - than many mattresses. They are augmented by some of the most beautiful parasols in existence.

The swimming pool at Passalacqua on Lake Como

Not for them Schultz’s lightweight frame, you’d think but look beneath. With their simplicity and beautiful portability, all of them owe their design to Florence Knoll’s requirements.