Begin with what’s left over. Turn it into what will last. Pretty much our story.
Do companies have goals beyond the stuff they produce? We’d like to think so. Emeco started in 1944. We took salvaged aluminum and made chairs for the US Navy. A war-time necessity. That became an ongoing direction. Today it’s scrap plastic. We keep it out of oceans and landfills and turn it into chairs that last. A planet necessity.
Make something well, it can survive anything.
In 1944 Wilton Carlyle Dinges creates the Electrical Machine and Equipment Company (Emeco) in Hanover, PA, and employs local steel workers. World War II brings a big uptick in business. Specifically, a government commission for a particular kind of chair. A chair to withstand the US Navy. The 1006 Navy is born.
Life on a ship is tough. Salt water. Salt air. The occasional torpedo blast. Survival will require a very resilient material. 77 steps turn ordinary scrap aluminum, extraordinarily strong. And what works for one demanding environment will eventually suit many, many others.
The Navy Chair. You’ve probably seen it in countless restaurants and bars, and in dozens of movies and TV shows. Fitting, since an authentic Navy chair comes with a story.
It’s a story about making more with less, about American innovation and building products that live up to the standards of our forefathers. It’s a story for today – and tomorrow.
Emeco is a proud member of Be Original Americas, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the importance and value of authentic design.
