I have bought this interesting chair from a second hand shop in Romania. They usually bring furniture from Germany and UK. I really like the design of this chair and I am asking you to please help me identifying the designer or the brand.
The chair has solid wood leg frames and curbed plywood back and seat. The turquoise frames might have been painted afterwards, because the underframe is unpainted and has dirty paint spots.
There is no mark, label or any other sign indicating a source of origin.
It may be an old Ikea or similiar item of generic furniture, or a really valuable piece of MCM Design. However, the chair is very comfortable and I intend to use it for my home office.
i've got some great old chairs that i'd love to identify, too. have to snap some pictures. they're not as cool and refined as daniel's, more goofy/googly space age style.
Here is some information from Maria, furniture ID specialist:
"My best guess is 1980's heavy duty office furniture of some type. It looks well made so I figure maybe it was contract furniture made for public/ govt or office space. The details on it remind me of 1980's furniture I've seen in some US university libraries > its the wood edge on the corners of the chair - that interlocking wood. I've seen that on a lot of 80's/90's furniture, it seemed to be a popular detail to have on the more solid, heavy use furniture of the day. The lines on the back of the seat, and the square arms/leg remind of that stark geometric shapes popular in 80's design. Also, those little white plastic blocks on the bottoms of the chair (to prevent floor scuffing) - you don't see that on older furniture. Those little plastic pieces came along in the 80's. (Obviously they could have been added later, but I can't tell from photos.)
As I said, it's only my gut instinct. I'm in the USA, so its from the pov of the stuff I've seen here. I've collected MCM for about 15 years and I'm pretty good at sniffing out the era a piece comes from (I can do the same thing by looking at the clothing/attire in old photographs). I rarely get it wrong - or I'm rarely way off base on my opinions. But this being in Europe, and me only seeing a photo of the chair not actually getting to check it out in person, means my assumptions could be off.
My educated guess is it would be contract furniture done for a public institution or business. As I said it looks well made, like they figured it would get a lot of use and therefore made it extra sturdy. It reminds me of chairs I've seen done specifically for universities and other large, institutions that usually have contract furniture done for big new buildings they designs and build - and want to have custom furniture to match it.
It also has the sturdy "office' or "institutional use" air to it - though it has been designed by someone to make it stand out and look better than the run of the mill assembly line office stuff. (For instance stuff like this: http://www.hertzfurniture.com/Guest-Chairs--Classic-Arm-Chair---Gr-2-Fabric--4176--mo.html) A piece they would use in the lobby at a museum or educational institution - along those lines.
But this is just my opinion. I'll be curious if you can find out more and see how far off or close my instincts were on this chair."
Thought this might help to narrow down my research. Some insight from European (especially German) design lovers will help a lot.
i had similar chairs in my college dorm...looks like educational institutional furniture...maybe look up some manufacturers of that kind of furniture and ask them...
Please ID this chair design
I have bought this interesting chair from a second hand shop in Romania. They usually bring furniture from Germany and UK. I really like the design of this chair and I am asking you to please help me identifying the designer or the brand.
The chair has solid wood leg frames and curbed plywood back and seat. The turquoise frames might have been painted afterwards, because the underframe is unpainted and has dirty paint spots.
There is no mark, label or any other sign indicating a source of origin.
I have searched the internet but the closest match is a Heinz Witthoeft design (http://www.artnet.com/artists/lotdetailpage.aspx?lot_id=1189F7CCD22C92779E7E5FB6624C42E1) from the 50's with quite a distant resemblance.
It may be an old Ikea or similiar item of generic furniture, or a really valuable piece of MCM Design. However, the chair is very comfortable and I intend to use it for my home office.
More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49542473@N00/with/6154761913/
Thank you very much and please be gentle, as I am a newbie on this forum.
i've got some great old chairs that i'd love to identify, too. have to snap some pictures. they're not as cool and refined as daniel's, more goofy/googly space age style.
Here is some information from Maria, furniture ID specialist:
"My best guess is 1980's heavy duty office furniture of some type. It looks well made so I figure maybe it was contract furniture made for public/ govt or office space. The details on it remind me of 1980's furniture I've seen in some US university libraries > its the wood edge on the corners of the chair - that interlocking wood. I've seen that on a lot of 80's/90's furniture, it seemed to be a popular detail to have on the more solid, heavy use furniture of the day. The lines on the back of the seat, and the square arms/leg remind of that stark geometric shapes popular in 80's design. Also, those little white plastic blocks on the bottoms of the chair (to prevent floor scuffing) - you don't see that on older furniture. Those little plastic pieces came along in the 80's. (Obviously they could have been added later, but I can't tell from photos.)
As I said, it's only my gut instinct. I'm in the USA, so its from the pov of the stuff I've seen here. I've collected MCM for about 15 years and I'm pretty good at sniffing out the era a piece comes from (I can do the same thing by looking at the clothing/attire in old photographs). I rarely get it wrong - or I'm rarely way off base on my opinions. But this being in Europe, and me only seeing a photo of the chair not actually getting to check it out in person, means my assumptions could be off.
My educated guess is it would be contract furniture done for a public institution or business. As I said it looks well made, like they figured it would get a lot of use and therefore made it extra sturdy. It reminds me of chairs I've seen done specifically for universities and other large, institutions that usually have contract furniture done for big new buildings they designs and build - and want to have custom furniture to match it.
It also has the sturdy "office' or "institutional use" air to it - though it has been designed by someone to make it stand out and look better than the run of the mill assembly line office stuff. (For instance stuff like this: http://www.hertzfurniture.com/Guest-Chairs--Classic-Arm-Chair---Gr-2-Fabric--4176--mo.html) A piece they would use in the lobby at a museum or educational institution - along those lines.
But this is just my opinion. I'll be curious if you can find out more and see how far off or close my instincts were on this chair."
Thought this might help to narrow down my research. Some insight from European (especially German) design lovers will help a lot.
Thanks
I'm no expert, but it def looks more pomo than MCM.
i had similar chairs in my college dorm...looks like educational institutional furniture...maybe look up some manufacturers of that kind of furniture and ask them...
thoughts about this beauty?:
thinking about having it reupholstered soon, but would love to know where it came from.
steven - that looks very swedish, 70's. maybe dutch, but more scandinavian (or at least someone knocking off a swedish look.)
top one looks like something ICF would have done in the 80's.
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