Bring On The Chair Leaders

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday May 1, 2008

Words Stephen Crafti

Collectors may covet designer seats - but not always for comfort.

COLLECTING designer chairs can be an addiction for some but, with so many from which to choose, finding the chair can be the problem. How do you decide between the side chair Model No. 14, designed by Michael Thonet in 1855, and the Coconut Chair by George Nelson, designed in 1956? According to some of our leading furniture experts, despite being designed in different centuries for different purposes, each holds an important place in the history of chair design.

"Designer chairs are one of the most widely collected pieces of furniture, for both private collectors and institutions," says Andrew Shapiro, managing director of Shapiro Auctioneers. "The chair is also one of the most challenging forms for a furniture designer. There are only so many ways you can reinvent the wheel."

Shapiro cites some of the most significant: Frank Lloyd Wright's oak side chair, designed for the Francis Little House in Illinois in 1902; Marcel Breuer's plywood chair of 1935; Charles and Ray Eames's LCM chair in stained plywood or ponyskin from 1946; and Marc Newson's Lockheed Lounge, designed in 1986.

"Newson transformed an ancient form into an industrial aesthetic," he says.

Shapiro knows when his catalogues are full but others have an addiction that is relentless. "A few years ago, I met a collector in Brooklyn, New York, who had more than 400 chairs," he says. "That amount is uncommon but there are certainly enthusiastic collectors in Australia."

Interior designer Iain Halliday, a director of Burley Katon Halliday, has an enviable collection of designer chairs - about 100 in all - in his home at Palm Beach, in friends' homes or in storage. Among his top 10 designer chairs is the Eames La Chaise, designed in 1948. Made of moulded fibreglass, with a chrome and oak base, this chair blurs the line between sculpture and furniture. "This design represents the pioneering nature of Charles and Ray Eames," Halliday says. "It's probably their most abstract design."

Over the past few years, Anton Assaad, director of Great Dane Furniture, has witnessed the increasing popularly of mid-20th-century chairs. If Assaad had to choose one chair to frame a contemporary setting, it would be the Spanish Chair, designed by Finish designer Borge Mogensen in 1958. With a deep seat and wide armrests, the leather and timber chair has a relaxed informal feel. "There are elements of the humble deckchair but it's considerably more sophisticated," Assaad says. Brass buckles on the backrest and seat can be adjusted as the leather softens. "[And] the tan or black leather can also be replaced in time, but age adds to its patina."

Richard Daniell and Simon Dewolf, owners of Thonet, focus their attention on chairs designed a century earlier. They supply both the commercial and domestic market with the Thonet side chair, Model No. 14. "People complained when Michael Thonet's first design was released in 1842. So an extra hoop was inserted in the backrest for extra comfort," Daniell says.

Made of beech, both moulded and solid, the Thonet is relatively inexpensive by today's standards (under $200). "It is in the Museum of Modern Art in New York but it's also in hundreds of homes and restaurants around the world," Daniell says.

Chairs can cause heated debate among serious collectors. "It's difficult assessing the worth of a design," Shapiro says. "Rarity is certainly an issue but so is the sense of drama in a design or the juxtaposition of materials."

John Bastiras, the manager of Luke Furniture, is surrounded by new and original chairs in his Melbourne showroom. He singles out the Coconut chair by George Nelson for special attention. Designed in 1956, the foam-upholstered steel shell appears relatively lightweight despite its 15 kilograms. Herman Miller manufactured the chair from 1956 until 1978, when tastes changed. Vitra reissued the design in 1988. Covered in fabric or leather, the Nelson chair is often placed in a corner of a room, like a sculpture.

"It's certainly not precious. It's not out of bounds for children. And even adults can hang a leg over one side," Bastiras says. He finds older people are drawn to the chair. "They find it quite easy to get out of ... it's not quite a recliner rocker but it's certainly user-friendly."

Another sculptural seat is the Sess chair, designed by Nani Prina in 1968. Made of polyurethane foam, the Sess occasionally comes to light in Australia. Ken Neale, owner of Twentieth Century Modern in Darlinghurst, bought Prina's chair, manufactured by the Italian company Sormani, from Sotheby's and says he has seen only two like it. "The chair reminds me of a Clement Meadmore sculpture. It's not really about comfort," Neale says.

Michael Dawborn of 506070 in Annandale specialises, as the name of his store suggests, in designer furniture from the 1950s to the '70s. Finnish designer Yrjo Kukkapuro's Karuselli chair, from the '60s, is the special one, although several of his chairs could make the top 10 list. "The story goes that Yrjo designed the chair after falling in the snow. The impression of his body inspired the design," Dawborn says. He appreciates the gentle rocking motion caused by the metal spring in its base.

The chairs that surround designer Chris Connell's dining room table are other high points of design. His Wishbone chairs, designed in 1950 by Hans Wegner, come in a variety of timbers including beech and oak. With raffia seats and "soap finished arms", they are chairs Connell won't part with. "I've collected several chairs over the years. But I'm always culling my chair collection," he says.

Connell says chairs are integral to the way we live. "We sit down most of the day, whether we're working at the office or relaxing at home. Chairs capture a moment in time. And they're continually changing our lives ... Some aren't particularly comfortable. But that's not what makes a chair important."