Chair #361

HOUDINI DINNER CHAIR

—Designed by CtrlZak Design Studio

The CTRLZAK Art & Design Studio, is led by Thanos Zakopoulos & Katia Meneghini. They have a very interesting website and are based in Milan and Greece. How bad can that be?

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Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian American magician, escapologist, stunt performer, actor and film producer. He also was a famous skeptic who set out to expose frauds purporting to be supernatural phenomena. Among his stunts, such as being buried underground, or escaping form handcuffs, was one of his most popular publicity stunts... his famous escape from a suspended straitjacket!

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Houdini's suspended straitjacket escape

Houdini was to have himself strapped into a regulation straitjacket and suspended by his ankles from a tall building or crane. Houdini would then make his escape in full view of the assembled crowd. In many cases, Houdini would draw thousands of onlookers who would choke the street and bring city traffic to a halt. Houdini would sometimes ensure press coverage by performing the escape from the office building of a local newspaper. In New York City, Houdini performed the suspended straitjacket escape from a crane being used to build the New York subway. After flinging his body in the air, Houdini escaped from the straitjacket. Starting from when he was hoisted up in the air by the crane, to when the straitjacket was completely off, it took Houdini two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. There is film footage of Houdini performing the escape in The Library of Congress. After being battered against a building in high winds during one escape, Houdini performed the escape with a visible safety wire on his ankle so that he could be pulled away from the building if necessary.

— From Wikipedia