Kartell brings Barbie furniture to life with its playful take on the Philippe Starck Louis Ghost Chair – the unmistakable clear polycarbonate silhouette gets a punch of pink and a hit of kitsch with the line art of a vintage Barbie face and ponytail emblazoned across the back. The manufacturer has been around as long as the love-her-or-hate-her blonde icon herself; Kartell was founded more than 60 years ago by Nobel prize-winning engineer Guilio Castelli, who began his career creating plastic accessories for the automotive industry and science laboratories, later branching out into furnishings for the home. Retailing at $335, Kartell’s pink plastic Barbie chair is so unabashedly girly, it borders on irony; it would be equally fitting in a child’s bedroom (literally; there’s a child-sized version available for $128) or the eclectic loft of an empowered Carrie Bradshaw aficionado with an affection for all things retro. (dimensions: 54 cm wide, 94 cm high, 55 cm deep.)
