From the point of view of a surveillance camera in the corner of the interview cell, Keanu sits with his head on his hands, his elbows on a table. The empty chair opposite him is an Emeco 1006. The camera angle changes, we see that he sits in an Emeco 1006 as well.

The Emeco 1006 (pronounced emma-koh ten-oh-six) is an aluminum chair that was designed in the '40s as a collaboration between ALCOA and the Electric Machine and Equipment Company to fulfill a contract from the US Navy. The contract specified a lightweight, rustproof, durable chair to outfit the galleys of submarines and battleships. Witton C. "Bud" Dinges, the founder of the company and an engineer, designed the chair and manufacturing process in 1944. He moved the company to Hanover, Pennsylvania , in 1947, and the the "Navy chair" has been in continuous production since.

The Emeco 1006 has become a design icon of the post-war age. The reduced lines and gleaming finish make the structure immediately visible, modern, undistracted by padding and scrollwork. The chair itself is manufactured from 11 pieces of aluminum tubing and a stamped sheet, welded together. The welding seams are ground down so as to make them imperceptible. The chair is then bathed in a salt bath at 1600°F, cooled, then baked to set the finish.

The resulting chair is a seamless construction, as if it were sculpted or cast. Dinges himself, at a furniture show in Chicago, dropped one chair from a sixth-story window onto the sidewalk. It survived without damage. The finish is a durable oxidized aluminum compound and highly resistant to scratches. The Emeco 1006 is practically indestructible. It is also extremely lightweight.

Occasionally, one can find for sale examples of the Emeco 1006 that were manufactured in the late '40s and '50s. The chairs are estimated to have a working lifetime of more than 150 years. But by the '90s, the modern look of the Emeco 1006 had come back into vogue. The factory that manufactures them has been retooled, and is back at its maximum production of 1000 chairs per month. Colors can now be added to the finish, resulting in satin-like sheen as well as the standard silver.

References
An article on the re-appearance of the Emeco 1006 in contemporary design. <www.metropolismag.com/html/content_0500/eme.htm>
A review of seating on the Princeton campus <www.princeton.edu/~paw/archive_new/PAW03-04/05-1119/features1.html>
A short film by Eamas Demetrios on the manufacturing process of the Emeco 1006, 77 Steps <www.eamesoffice.com/contact/emeco.html>
A google image search for "Emeco 1006" will return a number of pictures of the chair.

A own a pair of these Navy chairs. I love them. They are very comfortable, even without a cushion.

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