I have a strange secret. Even though I have been a mom several times in my life I have never really bought a high chair. I would like to but it seems that every time I have a child I end up inheriting a high chair from a well meaning relative. Half the time the high chair is really quite ugly. It is always a variation of the rustic country look with knobby legs, brownish wood and plaid seat. I have also inherited a spindly Ikea style chair with beige wood that stains easily.
The kind of high cahir I would really like for my child looks like it belongs on the set of a Clockwork Orange. It is molded, one piece, elegant and definitely has that quirky half Swedish and half British design flair. If you want the most modern of baby chairs available then you want to go for a clear molded freestanding chair like the type that is currently being marketed by some big name furniture designers online. These are one big hunk of plastic.
A good example of this type of uber-seventies style high chair ishe Fleurville Calla High chair . This high chair from industrial designer Yves Behar is a well rounded very nontraditional high chair that will be right at home in any type of modern décor. Basically it is half of a sphere that you plunk the baby down into it. The sphere itself sits on top of a tall tulip shaped stem with a small round base. The eating shelf folds down and keeps the baby securely in the half sphere that is the seat.
Another style is created by designer Sally Dominegez and is called The Nest. It features a kind of tulip design and the child is locked into the seat by the eating shelf. This style looks a little more like the kind of chair that you might find in a fifties diner. It also has straps and a little foot rest.
Both styles sit on a single metallic stem that rises up to support the plastic high chair. The styles come in there very Kubrick style of colors –  tomato, red, black and white. Another reason I am fond of this durable style of plastic is because it is so easy to wipe down and keep clean. These chairs are made out of that extremely hard and shiny durable plastic that defies the slop that a kid can throw around when he or she is eating. One spritz from a bottlw of ordinary cleaner, a quick wipe down and the whole thing is sanitized.
One thing about this type of plastic high chair is that it can scratch. Don't use abrasive pads to clean it or you could mar the plastic with track marks.
These chairs are quite pricey because they are practically works of art and you can find them at designer outlet stores for baby furniture like Stokke.