This Convertible Chair Is Also ‘a Desk for Those Who Do Not Wish to Have a Desk’

Written by

Mia Nakaji Monnier
Mia Nakaji Monnier
Mia Nakaji Monnier is a freelance writer and former weekend editor at Apartment Therapy. She lives in Los Angeles and spends most of her free time knitting.
published May 24, 2020
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Credit: Pierre-Louis Gerlier

When your space is limited and you have to get creative to fit everything you need, surprising things can happen. Take, for example, architect Pierre-Louis Gerlier’s “chaise renversée,” “the overturned chair.”

On one side, it’s a chaise lounge fit for a nap or a leisurely reading session. Turn it over, and it becomes a desk. Gerlier calls it “a desk for those who do not wish to have a desk” on designboom, meaning that it’s for people who only occasionally need a desk for paying bills or writing emails but would prefer not to give it full-time real estate in their living space. 

Credit: Pierre-Louis Gerlier

(If you’re the opposite, someone who needs a desk all the time, on the other extreme end of this furniture spectrum is this bed desk originally created for serious gamers.)

Credit: Pierre-Louis Gerlier

Gerlier has created several permutations of the chaise renversée over the years, including a wooden one with more padding on the chaise surface, one meant for using outdoors, and a miniature one for kids. You can see them on his website here.

Credit: Pierre-Louis Gerlier

The latest version, pictured here, is made out of braided wire and metal and manufactured by Boqa, famous for the Acapulco chair.

Credit: Pierre-Louis Gerlier

Gerlier has created other similarly playful dual-purpose furniture as well. One is the “stool petit Jean(neret),” a stool on adult scale that can be flipped over to become a desk or armchair for kids. “This is a piece of furniture that each child will be able to use while growing up as to keep all the memories it contains,” the designer writes on his website.