Celebrating the Tripp Trapp® at the Centre Pompidou

The iconic Tripp Trapp® chair takes its place at the Centre Pompidou’s 2024 exhibition The Childhood of Design: A Century of Furniture for Children in Paris. As home to Europe's largest collection of modern art and host to 3.5 million visitors annually, the Centre Pompidou is the perfect place to explore the evolution of children’s furniture. With over 150 influential works on show, the exhibition journeys across the twentieth century, unfolding the emergence of children’s furniture as a world of its own and exploring how forward-thinking designers have continuously adapted their work to support the growing child.

Tripp Trapp®, designed by Peter Opsvik, is the chair that revolutionized children's highchairs in the 1970s and transformed Stokke’s design philosophy by merging functionality with aesthetics and ergonomics. It joins the much-celebrated Schaukelwagen by Hans Brockhage, Cheval à bascule by Walter Papst, and Mobilier Child’s Rocker by Gloria Carnica at the exhibition to tell the captivating story of child-centric design.

“As an icon of children’s design, Tripp Trapp has all the attributes that make children’s furniture successful: simplicity and adaptability. With an adjustable seat and foot plate that enables 14 different seating positions, Tripp Trapp is the ultimate family furniture item. At the exhibition, the chair makes the connection between modern wooden furniture and the advent of pop, with its bright colors and dynamic shapes.”

Marie-Ange Brayer, curator with Céline Saraiva.

Head of the Design Department, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou

In this article, we’ll look back at the evolution of children’s furniture and map Stokke’s influence on the design world to understand why Tripp Trapp® remains so relevant today.