A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away a talented young racing seat designer called Geoff Dunsford received a call from a well-known film studio, asking him to create a unique pair of very special seats for a forthcoming film. Shrouded in secrecy, the young Dunsford did just that, creating a stunning design that would appear on the big screen a couple of years later – in what would turn out to be the biggest science fiction film of all time…
Yes, you’ve guessed it – completely unbeknownst to him, Geoff had created the iconic seats for the cockpit scenes of the Millennium Falcon in Star Wars. To say that he was surprised as he watched it on the flickering screen of the Dominion Theatre in Tottenham Court during the Christmas break of 1977 would be an understatement. “I just jumped up in the cinema and yelled, ‘They’re my seats!’” regaled Geoff years later.
The good news is, that Geoff, and his son Mark, are still very much in the seat game, being the force (pun intended) behind the world-famous Cobra Seats in Telford. Although Mark’s definitely in the Admiral Ackbar position these days, Geoff has been tempted out of retirement to re-create the design of those legendary Falcon seats once more in a strictly limited-edition run of just 200 office chairs.
Using his original design sketches and notes, fabric swatches and set photography, the Cobra team, under Geoff’s expert guidance, has precisely recreated the Falcon seat as a fully functioning office chair. The steel framework is identical to the last weld, even down to the type and diameter of tubing. The foam has been precisely contoured to suit all frames – whether you’re a six-foot rebellion Commander, or a seven-foot Wookie. To be fair, even an Ewok would still be fairly comfy on this perfectly-honed pew! The fabric took some finding, that’s for sure! The Cobra design team had to visit and inspect the swatches of over 50 different mills in order to achieve a truly authentic look. In the quest to create an exact replication of the original seat, not even the smallest detail has been overlooked during the recreation of this chair.
For safety’s sake, all materials are much more sophisticated and fire-retardant these days, of course, meaning that the new Falcon chairs should be a decent match even for an Imperial blaster.
Imagine the possibilities of spending your working day in this seat! That boring voice conference with the Swindon office is suddenly a rescue mission to Endor! The meeting with Derek from accounts is actually the descent into the exhaust port on The Death Star. Yep… no matter how boring or brilliant your career may be, the working day is always going to be a lot more fun when you’re Han Solo…
Entry into this most exclusive of clubs is a very reasonable £690.00 including VAT. (Price in Republic Dataries upon application) That includes an individually numbered certificate of authenticity, signed by Geoff himself. As the man that made it safe for Han and Chewie to make the jump to light-speed, quality is a given.
For more info see Cobra Seats or use the force.
