Description
SOLD for $3100 the pair! Regularly click into our NEWLY LISTED Category or follow us at- instagram.com/invisedge
FOR SALE from our North BRISBANE depot in Morayfield. Delivery Australia-wide is also welcome. To give you an idea of interstate freight costs, it cost about $200 to transport this pair to Sydney (by a professional furniture carrier).
Due to the rarity and value of these chairs, we have priced them at OFFERS OVER $1395 PER CHAIR. We are prepared to break up the set. If you want both chairs, come forward quickly- even if it’s just to express interest and not to commit. If strong offers come in for a single chair, this pair will be broken up. The price is OFFERS OVER $1395 PER CHAIR. The “offers over” situation is NOT to milk it and start playing one bid off another (we DON’T want to create an auction situation). If a good offer comes in early this pair will be sold! We’re not in this to get the absolute highest price we think we can for our stock- we want quick sales AND for our customers to also be happy with their investment! (After all, we want our customers to buy from us again!)
Provenance and Background Info
A system 1-2-3 chair manufactured designed by Verner Panton for Fritz Hansen in 1973. (Price is PER CHAIR). These vintage chairs are ridiculously RARE. I could only find ONE VINTAGE system 1-2-3 chair for sale online WORLDWIDE in good condition (on an obscure international website- none in good condition on 1stdibs or Pamono that I could find). See the screenshots provided. The vintage 1-2-3 for sale online at the moment is also manufactured by Fritz Hansen and is priced at 1995 euro / $3115 AUSTRALIAN in EUROPE for one chair. At our price (about HALF the price of the overseas one) this is a no-brainer investment. One of our chairs has remnants of the original FRITZ HANSEN label underneath- this guarantees your re-sale value. These are VINTAGE ORIGINALS made under license by Fritz Hansen in Denmark in the mid-1970’s. These are also the original covers from the 1970’s. This tough-as-nails VINTAGE fabric is in extraordinary condition for chairs that are about 45 years old.
I like this design in bright colours but to be completely honest I prefer them in grey. I could picture these chairs in a classy contemporary space, adding a fun exuberance to the interior. They would fit nicely into with any home but not scream for all the attention. Lots of bright colours in a single space is very hard to pull off well. You’ll rarely see even experienced interior designers attempt it. Lots of bright colours can look garish, “amateur-designer” and “hodge-podge”. This pair would be easy to look amazing in ANY interior (even a small apartment because the design is so minimalist and refined). Oh no, I’m talking myself into wanting to keep them!
This “job” is getting so hard- mainly from having to sell things I desperately want for myself (that I know I’ll never get again as well). But I’m not a hoarder. I have nowhere to put these chairs right now. (I will in 3-4 years but I see no point in hoarding them for 3 years. It’s best to let them go, find another loving home so I can stock other items in the meantime that inspire me just as much as this incredible pair does.)
Investment appeal and durability both get a resounding tick of approval- what about comfort? I LOVE the comfort of these! The angles are perfect! These have a HIGH-back for extra support but they also hold you in proper seating position for long-term comfort. This is NOT that super-soft comfort you just melt into for the first 10 minutes but then find yourself constantly fidgeting to get some proper support- if chairs have no support, it’s virtually impossible to get it later. Best to count your losses, sell and get something else! Ten minutes of sublime comfort in a shop does NOT equal long-term seating comfort. Look at the angles here- you can clearly see that Panton has carefully considered comfort because this design is done to hold you in proper seating position. I also LOVE the suspended style of the seat and back. The “give” in both the seat and back (… and just the right amount) provides a “floating comfort” you’ll love. (They feel similar to sitting in a Falcon chair from the same era … that’s a very good thing in my eyes!)
As Verner Panton stated in 1973 when this design was first released, “I wanted to design furniture that grows up out of the floor- to turn furniture into something organic, never with four legs.” Well, he’s achieved that- plus these chairs don’t look like chairs at all but an organic sinewy piece of art that’s also highly practical and functional. Okay, I need to stop … the lucky buyer is going to have to literally prise these chairs out of my hands at pick-up. I’m talking myself into storing them for 3 years even though I don’t want to!
The public was obviously very enthusiastic about these chairs in the 1970’s. One critic wrote: “(this concept) will be a milestone in future furniture design… We have never before seen chairs designed and built like the 20 models that make up this series.” It took Verner Panton 3 years to develop this series; the result is a unique chair concept where Panton worked systematically with design and function based on his desired theme.
The thing I love most about this design is that the covers are actually a very EASY upholstery job. These are the original covers (NEVER get rid of the covers please!). You could easily get an upholsterer to unpick one of these covers carefully (or do it yourself to save money), cut out a pattern (to always keep), re-sew up the unpicked cover and then make as many covers as you want in any colour. Change up your interior at any time by simply sewing up another cover. Once you have the pattern, this is a simple sewing job. The pattern is the real work here not the sewing. I also LOVE that there’s a zipper up the inside to stretch the covers over the STEEL frame. This means that washing the covers would also be super EASY. Take the full cover off and take it to a professional cleaner to remove ANY stain painlessly at any time with no stress.
The 1-2-3 chair is held in important galleries the world over. I prefer these chairs to the famous “Groovy chair” (which are fetching HUGE prices worldwide, easily double this reserve price). The back is taller on this design though- I find this design more comfortable than the Groovy chair.
$3115 AUSTRALIAN dollars … that’s in EUROPE. We’re a long way from Europe (where these were made in the 1970’s). This pair can only increase in value in the future- you’ll never get that from buying new modern furniture. Above the financial advantage of investing in vintage furniture there’s the satisfaction of knowing there are very few better ways to reduce landfill. These chairs were built to last and already have! It’s as simple as that. Look at them after all these years! If you look after these chairs, I can never see them ending up as landfill. The base is brushed aluminium so will never rust, the inner frame is steel so these are virtually impossible to break and the fabric is QUALITY-VINTAGE fabric that has done the job for 45 years and is set to continue going for another 45! Investing in items that show respect for the use of our earth’s resources is our only way out of this mess. If you truly care for the future of this earth for our children, your chairs should be built for a lifetime of use (or more) just like these chairs are and if they’re not, they WILL end as landfill (sooner rather than later).
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