Iconic Philippe Starck Slick Slick Chair Verified Authentic xO France 1999 I Made in France

Philippe Starck “Slick Slick” Chair — XO France, 1999 | French Design Icon

An Icon of French Design

Designed in 1999 by Philippe Starck for XO, the Slick Slick Chair is a beautifully resolved example of late-20th-century French design — extraordinarily simple at first glance, yet technically innovative and unmistakably Starck.

Product Info

QTY available 30+

With its slender profile, gently sculpted back and almost impossibly thin construction, the Slick Slick takes the familiar stacking chair and reduces it to its purest form.

More than 25 years after its introduction, it still looks remarkably contemporary.

Designed by Philippe Starck

Few designers have influenced contemporary European design as profoundly as Philippe Starck.

Known for transforming everyday objects through wit, simplicity and innovative manufacturing, Starck has created everything from furniture and lighting to celebrated hotels and interiors around the world.

The Slick Slick captures that philosophy beautifully: minimal material, intelligent engineering and an instantly recognisable silhouette.

Made in France by XO

The Slick Slick was produced by XO, France, with authentic examples carrying the original identification:

SLICK-SLICK — STARCK for XO — Made in France

Rather than being assembled from numerous components, the chair was manufactured as a single piece of polypropylene using gas-assisted injection moulding.

This innovative production technique enabled an exceptionally thin and lightweight structure while maintaining the strength and practicality required of a genuinely usable stacking chair.

A Design Worthy of the World’s Great Museums

The Slick Slick’s significance extends far beyond its role as an everyday chair.

The design is represented in the collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, one of the world’s most important institutions for modern and contemporary art and design.

An original 1999 Slick Slick is also held in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

That museum recognition places the Slick Slick within the broader story of important late-20th-century industrial and furniture design.

Beautifully Simple. Unmistakably Starck.

Viewed from the side, the chair becomes almost a single continuous line.

From the front, its broad sculpted back and restrained proportions give it considerably more presence than its lightweight construction might suggest.

The result is a chair that works equally well around a dining table, in an architectural interior, creative studio or commercial setting — or simply as an individual piece of collectible design.

Authentic Pre-Owned Example

Presented in a beautiful white / warm ivory finish, this example is authentic XO production and remains in good pre-owned condition, with signs of use consistent with age.

A wonderful opportunity to own an original Made in France Philippe Starck design from 1999 — a chair represented in two of the world’s great museum collections.

Designer: Philippe Starck
Model: Slick Slick
Manufacturer / Publisher: XO
Country: France
Year: 1999
Material: Moulded polypropylene
Construction: Single-piece gas-assisted injection moulding
Colour: White / Warm Ivory
Condition: Pre-Owned — Good Condition
Authenticity: Original XO / Philippe Starck
Stackable: Yes

Why We Love It

French design. Museum provenance. Ingenious engineering.

The Slick Slick is one of those rare designs where almost everything unnecessary has been removed. What remains is light, practical, sculptural and immediately recognisable — Philippe Starck at his minimalist best.

About Philip Starck

Born in 1949 in Paris, designer Philippe Starck has been described as a provocateur, a defender of democratic design, and “a superstar on the French design scene.” It’s said that as a child, Starck slept under the drafting table of his father, who was an inventor and aeronautics engineer. Starck went on to study at the École Camondo in Paris, but was later quoted as saying that he “learned nothing” there and was, instead, driven by his own curiosity.

Around 1968, Starck set up his own studio in Paris, with a special focus on inflatable designs; he collaborated with the master of blow-up furniture, designer Quasar Khanh. The following year, Starck debuted an inflatable structure at Salon de l’Enfance and caught the attention of fashion designer Pierre Cardin, who straightaway offered him an art director position. 

In the mid to late 1970s, Starck found success designing nightclub interiors, like La Main Bleue in Montreuil and Les Bain Douches in Paris. As the 1980s neared, Starck launched a company called Starck Product—later named Ubik after the Philip K. Dick novel—and began producing furniture, lighting, and accessory designs for major manufacturers like Alessi, Driade,  Flos, Kartell, and Vitra.

In 1983, Starck’s international design celebrity began to build when French president François Mitterrand invited him to renovate the private apartments of the Élysée Palace. Not long after, Starck began to receive regular commissions for restaurant and hotel interiors. Highlights from this phase of his career include Café Costes in Paris (1984), Manin in Tokyo (1985), Theatron in Mexico City (1985), the Royalton (1988) and Paramount (1990) hotels in New York City, and the Delano Hotel in Miami Beach (1995). In 1999, Starck partnered with developer John Hitchcox to launch Yoo, a design firm dedicated to residential and commercial interiors.

Starck is arguably the most prolific designer living today, and any listing of his many iconic works must be abbreviated. Among the standouts, however, you’ll find Miss Dorn Chair for VIA and later for Driade (1980); Pat Conley I Chair for XO (1983); J. Série Lang Chair for Driade (1986); Hot Bertaa Kettle for Alessi (1987); Miss Donna Mirror for OWO and later for Alessi (1987); Lola Mundo Chair for Driade (1988); Juicy Salif Lemon Squeezer for Alessi (1990); W.W. Stool for Vitra (1990); Louis 20 Chair for Vitra (1991); Miss Sissi Table Lamp for Flos (1991); Vicieuse Coffee Table for Driade (1992); Excalibur Toilet Brush for Heller (1993); Jim Nature Portable Television for Thomson (1994); Rosy Angelis Lampfor Flos (1994); Dr. No Chair for Kartell (1996); Dr. Scud Fly Swatter for Alessi (1998); La Marie Chair for Kartell (1998); Miss C.O.C.O. Folding Chair for Cassina (1998); Gnome Stools for Kartell (1999); Bubble Club Sofa for Kartell (2000); Hudson Chair for Emeco (2000); Louis Ghost Chair for Kartell (2002); and Guns Lamp for Flos (2005).

In addition to furniture, electronics, and product design, Starck has tackled several larger-scale designs, like the Alhóndiga Cultural & Leisure Centure in Bilbao (2010), Port Adriano Harbor in Palma de Mallorca (2012), Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s yacht (2012), P.A.T.H Prefabricated Homes for Riko (2013), and Le Nuage Sports Center in Montpellier (2014), among many others.

Starck’s work can be found in most European and American museums, including the Musée National d’Art Moderne and Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, MoMA and the Brooklyn Museum in New York, Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, and Design Museum London. The Pompidou Center hosted a Starck retrospective in 2003. His many awards are too numerous to name.