Articles
In the late ninetieth century, Ernest Koken invented the first hydraulic Koken barber chair. In the year of 1874 Koken originally started being in business by producing and selling hand painted shaving mugs. He also started distributing. Despite that you seldom will find one of those hand-painted mugs or a coin you can find a Koken barber chair in antique shops all over the United States. If you travel around, maybe you sometimes will find a Koken barber chair still be used in some small barber shops.
In his time, the Koker barber chair represented the state of the art of craftsmanship in the barber shop supply industry. The barber chair was regarded as the reference model of a barber chair. The made of the chair was praised to be highest quality and outstanding classy and furnished with a solid guarantee.
But what was the invention of Ernest Koken, a German immigrant, really?. Before the Koken barber chair appeared on the scene, barber chairs had swivels to adjust bodyhight of the customer to the size of the barber. This was necessary to perform a perfect haircut. In particular if a customer got his hairs washed, he had to bow back. In this case, a swivel chair was very unstable and the swivel could be distorted. The hydraulic Koker barber chair eliminated this disadvantage. Now the barber could adjust the whole chair with a foot operated hydraulic pump to move the chair up and down. This pump was strong enough to move the seating up and down while the customer was sitting on the chair.
While most of the former swivel barber chairs made of wood, now the customers felt more save and comfortable with the new barber chair. The Koken barber chair framework was made out of steel mainly. It has a heavy steel stand to avoid it to topple. The upholstery of the backrest, the seating and the armrest was made from leather and had a thick padding. The Koken barber chair was the first chair which came with a footrest and a cushioned headrest.
The Koken barber chair in those times was a sort of mass product, admitted with a outstanding art deco style, and become part of the culture, one can find a lot of them in antique shops or auctions as well on ebay. Some of the Koken barber chairs survived in good condition while other had to be restored in different extend.
At St. Lois the Koken manufacturing co. still operates and produces stylish and durable chairs for the barber and beauty industry. At least some of the fame of the founder outlasted until today.
None of the members of the Koken family has is involved in producing Koken barber chairs since more then 65 years. The company now is a subsidiary of Japanese manufacturers Takara-Belmont, the world's largest producers of barber and dentist chairs.
