A book reveals the double life of a famous modernist recliner
There’s a supporting character in pornography that pops up as frequently as mediocre plastic surgery: the LC4 Chaise Longue, a 1928 design that has become a preferred porno perch since it was produced by Italian manufacturer Cassina in 1965.
It’s an unlikely synergy between sex and setting that’s become the subject of the brilliant little book “We Don’t Embroider Cushions Here” from Édition Monumental by Augustine and Josephine Rockebrune.
The sleek leather-and-chrome chaise longue’s prominence in adult films was spotted by the pseudonymous sibling artists Rockebrune when they were searching for photos of the author Tom Wolfe. After accidentally landing on his adult-film namesake in an X-rated scene set on an LC4, they realized the design, which is credited to Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, appeared in quite a number of adult films.
Soon they were scouring sites like PornHub.com and compiling cameos of the LC4 (and convincing knock-offs). From there, they built models of popular shooting locations to help them quickly identify films where the chair might appear, hiring a virtual workforce in Chandigarh, India, to help comb through the 800 films they identified.
With 150 screenshots in hand — including images of Sasha Grey licking the chaise longue’s leather skin, a diptych of climaxing women in matching pearl necklaces and more — they distilled their unexpected obsession into a 212-page art book chronicling the sexual politics of the iconic recliner.
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