Chairs are an important, if relatively unnoticed, feature at casinos from Atlantic City to Las Vegas to Macau.
Important enough for the new resort to spend “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to Resorts World Vice President of Design Kara Sifferman, to make sure each chair was comfortable and stylish.
Gary Platt’s Aurora slot chairs on the Resorts World Las Vegas floor.
And important enough to enlist Gary Platt Manufacturing, considered one of the premier designers of chairs for the gaming industry. Based in Reno, Nevada, the team at Gary Platt designed four new models for Resorts World including the Zephyr, a chair designed specifically for baccarat players.
“The hallmark of our business has always been for you to be comfortable and feel like you’re in a strong, stable chair,” says Gary Platt CEO Joe Esposito. “That and to provide unsurpassed comfort that no one can match.”
You probably don’t recognize the name Ed Abadie. But if you’ve visited a casino in the last 20 years, his work might have made your visit more comfortable. A product design engineer for Gary Platt, he’s helped to create chairs for the company’s clients in North and South America, and Australia.
According to Esposito, Abadie is considered one of the best craftsmen of casino chairs.
“I think what (Ed) delivers is that legendary comfort and the best sit in the industry,” Esposito says.
Abadie says that any project is doable but first, all parties must agree on a final product while meeting Gary Platt’s three principles: comfort, design element, and making sure the build is executable.
Gary Platt’s Ezra chairs at Resorts World Las Vegas, designed for table game players.
“What I’m trying to do – and I’ve had a little bit of experience in working with designers – is don’t lose what they’re trying to accomplish,” Abadie says. “It doesn’t matter if my name is on it, it matters more that (chairs) look good for the client, which is the casino, and that their whole vision comes through. What we try to do is take their basic ideas and criteria and build it to our standard of comfort.”
At Resorts World, the task was heightened by what was at stake. Sifferman admits she and her team felt pressured to get the design elements precisely right, and not only because of the $4.3 billion invested in the property.
“It was affecting us personally and professionally, and at a time when Vegas needed us, too, to open back up,” Sifferman says. “When we opened it was kind of a shining beacon, not only to bring back our city to life, but the entire hospitality industry.”
Sifferman describes the design for the property as being “very modern coupled with warm textures and stone … very tailored and handsome.”
Gary Platt’s Dakota was designed specifically for high limit players. Seen at Resorts World Las Vegas.
“We chose a light palette for the materials on the chairs, which always brightens it for everyone,” Sifferman adds. “My theory on that is you have to commit to that light and fresh environment.”
That palette requires more cleaning, especially for chairs that get heavy usage. In order to make that task easier, Resorts Word struck an agreement with Gary Platt to provide extra seat cushions “so that we could swap them in quickly,” Sifferman says. “They were helpful on that end.”
For Resorts World, Gary Platt created four new models:
- Aurora, for slot machines
- Dakota, for high-limit players
- Ezra, for table games
- Zephyr, for baccarat players
Abadie says the design for baccarat chairs is borrowed from a concept he used when working for law offices in San Francisco. Attorneys wanted to be against the inside wall and they wanted their clients to be backed by the outside wall, often floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
An overlook of Gary Platt’s Zephyr, designed for Baccarat.
In baccarat, since the chairs are about 19 inches in height, he applied a principle similar to the design for law offices: cover the clients’ backs so they don’t feel exposed.
“Comfort is not only in the ergonomics, but in how you feel when you’re sitting in a chair and whether you’re exposed or not,” Abadie says.
Sifferman says the collaboration between Resorts World and Gary Platt yielded results that match or exceeded her expectations, from the poker tables to the high limit room to the main casino..
“We kind of asked Gary Platt to jump through hoops, and they did,” Sifferman says. “We are really excited about the product. Not only does it look great, but it feels great, and of course we’re hoping it’s going to perform great.”
