TAM-TAM stool, Henri Massonnet (Stamp, 1968)

Here's is one of the most iconic plastic designs ever... And it's one of the cheapest and oldest chairs on the market. The TAM TAM stool from 1968 by the French Henri Massonnet.

Maybe the most shocking thing about this stool is that it was actually designed for... fishermen! Massonnet was an amateur fishermen and run a manufactoring company called STAMP that was especialised in moulded plastic, its flagship production being a coolbox for fishermen. But Massonnet created the stool for himself: it was easy to carry around and he could keep things inside.
Massonnet began producing the Tam Tam commercially, selling it to fishermen with modest success, when suddenly a picture of Brigitte Bardot sat on an orange TamTam made that the stool became not only a best-seller, but a real icon of the late 60s. An ashtray version of it was made -by simply removing the seat and adding a big round metal ashtray that fits on the stool's body.

Due to the petroleum crisis in 1973 many plastic designs were discontinued, and the TamTam was about to, but Stamp managed to keep on producing it until the 80s, when all this pop culture represented by the Tam-Tam was already quite outdated. The stool was reissued in 2002 and nowadays it's still being made at the same factory and distributed by Branex, and more usually found at the Habitat stores. Along with the classic TamTam (which they called TamTam Pop), Branex has taken fully advantage of the design and has created a whole series of TamTam based designs: salt and pepper shakers, lamps, docks for iPod/iPhone, as well as editions with themed printed seats or stools made entirely in coloured transparent plastic or with a metallic finishing... The Tam-Tam has become so fashionable that there is a Vieuve Cliquot Tam-Tam edition that is used as a champagne cooler...

I got my green Tam-Tam in the mid 90s and it was quite old at the time, although it's hard to tell when was this one produced. So far is in storage with all my collections and furniture, but I hope it will find its place somewhere soon...

The pic 1 shows the actual stool I've got (it's small enough to be photographed in my 80 cm. light box). Pic 2 shows the different parts of the Tam-Tam. On pic 3 you can see all the modern Tam-Tam stuff created /adapted and commercialized by Branex.