Alfred Hendrickx S3 Armchair Designed for Sabena Airlines, Belgium, 1958

The S3 chair was designed by Alfred Hendrickx and produced by Belform in Belgium in 1958. This rare chair was a custom design by Hendrickx for the Sabena Airlines first class lounge in Zaventem Airport, Brussels. The three-legged, black lacquered frame is a stunning example of modernist design combined with streamline influences. Overseeing the entire interior of the Sabena lounge, Hendrickx had decided to upholster and use the S-3 chairs in three different colors: red, blue and green. Only 50 chairs per color were produced, of which very few remain.

Alfred Hendrickx (1931-) was one of the prominent Belgian designers of the midcentury era, known for his original designs with an elegance that displays a somewhat Italian sensibility. Hendrickx distinctively stood out with his designs for Belform, which were aesthetically related to the organic and sculptural lines presented in the work of renowned Italian designers and architects of the time such as Gio Ponti and Ico Parisi.