Description
OFFERS OVER $12,500.
I HAVE ANOTHER 12 OR SO MORE PHOTOS OF THIS CHAIR. CALL ME USING THE PHONE NUMBER ON OUR CONTACT PAGE IF YOU NEED TO SEE ABOUT 12 MORE PHOTOS.
LOCATION- being sold under consignment by a vendor in SYDNEY (close to the city). Call or SMS us on the phone number in our CONTACT section if you have any further questions about the chair on offer. I personally photographed this chair so have studied it’s condition. Interstate buyers are welcome- it’d cost about $420 to get this chair to Melbourne using one of our preferred carriers.
Provenance and Background Info
An AUTHENTIC VINTAGE Ball Chair made by Eero Aarnio. This is the most collectable chair we’ve stocked in over 22 years of trading (without any doubt). It has the ASKO embossed label on it which verifies it’s a FIRST EDITION. I’ve been told by those in the know that because of the way it has been constructed, it is one of the very first Ball Chairs ever made and that this particular Ball Chair was made in 1967 or before. Being one of the first ever made elevates it to “not ever replaceable” status. A status that can be bestowed on so few items. I don’t need to tell anyone this is an iconic design. Everyone has seen a Ball Chair somewhere or another- particularly in movies and print media. This design catapulted Eero Aarnio to design fame and initiated a career in design that was paralleled by very few. Not many people can say they have even seen a VINTAGE ORIGINAL Ball Chair in the flesh. I have no doubt this Eero Aarnio piece will continue to elevate in value as you get to enjoy using it and having it in your space. And what a joy that would be! Yes it’s over-the-top, BUT in the right spot it would be just what’s needed to make the area breath-taking. Anyone who sees it would lose their shit for a moment. (Plus whilst you get the pleasure of having this chair, it will not lose a cent of value).
The orange colour makes the chair in my eyes. All the replicas have been done in white- the orange gives it authentic retro appeal and means it could be adapted very cleverly to a wider scope of interiors. Orange is an earthy colour- it could marry in with earthy items in the same space- I don’t think a white and red one could ever work in an earthy interior. I can even imagine this in front of windows where the sky is the main backdrop. An orange ball in front of the expanse of blue with a few “cotton-ball” clouds; can you just imagine it??
There’s a similar chair on 1stdibs for over AU $31,000- the investment appeal on offer here is a no-brainer. To be honest though, I think ours is better than the one on 1stdibs too! I don’t like the black leather to be honest. The hero of the piece is the ball shape, with black leather, the interior is taking just as much attention as the orange ball. With ours it’s the shape that takes all the focus and I like that this is the original soft fabric from the 1960’s as well. There would be very few others like this one around with the original vintage fabric. This type of iconic vintage fabric just heightens the appeal in my eyes. Yes- that is just my humble opinion- take it or leave it, I don’t care!
After starting his career as a freelancer at the start of the 1960’s, Eero Aarnio was still dreaming of creating a furniture piece that people would remember. Because of his fascination with sailing boats, Aarnio familiarized himself with fibreglass, a new material back in the day. He wondered if he could employ this material outside the boat industry. Could he design furniture out of fiberglass?
Functionality was always his first aim, but Eero Aarnio is a true visionary. (And yes IS is the correct word there, Eero Aarnio is still alive at the time of writing- 2023.) He said to his wife: “I will make a chair that when it is put in a shop window, no one will just walk past it.” … No one could possibly argue he hasn’t fulfilled that promise. I had visions of taking this chair up to the fountain at Kings Cross and doing a video about the chair in inner-city Sydney. I knew that everyone would stop with mouths agape. Someone sitting in this in the middle of Sydney city… Perhaps my vision may still become a reality some day.
The first potential customer for the Ball Chair was a furniture shop, Sopenkorpi in Lahti. Eero showed them the drawings at the factory and told them about the prototype he had made. The Ball Chair was delivered to Helsinki, where it stood on the shop floor in Kasarmitori. The business representative came to see the chair but, in the end, they were not interested… This doesn’t surprise me, anyone with any true vision is normally dismissed for a while.
The Ball Chair made its debut at the Cologne Furniture Fair of 1966, and the first visitors to the department were two Italians who placed an order for six Ball Chairs on the spot. During the fair this chair became the new sensation and was sold to 30 countries within a week. The first piece in the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat stated 25.11.1966: “The most exciting chair in the world is on show at the Cologne International Furniture Fair. This egg-shaped chair hides its user almost completely from view and it is also sound-proofed.” And so a new design sensation was born. Soon after, the Ball Chair was given notable attention in other media including the New York Times. Within a few years the Ball Chair achieved the status of an international celebrity. The Ball Chair by Eero Aarnio has now been the star of movie-sets, TV commercials and music videos.
Investing in authentic vintage designs is a smart way to go. Items with widespread appeal, top-quality construction and rarity, will nearly always continue to increase in value as the item becomes harder and harder to get. I have no doubt that this one will be a very smart investment for the eventual buyer. Where will you see another like this again? After most modern “designer” furniture has ended up as landfill, this piece will only be passed onto another set of admiring hands, a symbol that when someone is true to their vision and they persist, anything can happen.
2308
WHAT'S BELOW DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS CHAIR!
DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS CHAIR- CALL THE PHONE NUMBER IN OUR CONTACT SECTION FOR ALL DETAILS OF THE CONDITION. THE CONDITION OF THE CHAIR WILL BE PUT IN WRITING FOR AN INTERSTATE CUSTOMER BEFORE ANY MONEY CHANGES HANDS.
The structure and cushioning is in excellent condition with no issues at all. This vintage cushioning is holding it's shape extremely well and shows no signs of deterioration at all. The chrome is also in extremely good condition for its age. We had NOT cleaned the chrome before the photos showing both lounges (the lighting was perfect at the time we had set up and we didn't want to risk losing it- plus it was threatening to rain). For the close-up photos we did, the chrome frame of one of the sofas had been polished up- the other had not. The polishing was a quick, simple process (we just used a non-abrasive plastic cleaning pad with water). ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
We believe that the upholstery is 100% PURE wool (most likely Australian wool from the late-1970's)- one thing is for sure, this is a quality vintage covering. (These sofas were not cheap back in the day). The upholstery is in excellent condition overall for pieces that are 40 years old. One sofa has two small holes as shown in our photos. These could be professionally repaired and I'd say a professional would get them to the point where they would be barely noticed at all (they are barely noticeable already- they're not big and not in a conspicuous spot). Using the darning technique and threads from the original fabric (taken from underneath the sofa.) The upholstery will have other minor signs of use of age but there are no other condition issues that warrant a mention at all. The upholstery is very clean for fabric sofas of this age (because they are wool and wool tends to repel stains). There are no noticeable marks or stains. The sofas have no odours. They are ready to be used and loved as they are (unless you want to do something about the 2 small holes but even that is not necessary though- the sofas look really good as they are). _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Measurements. Width- 134cm at its widest. Height- 69cm. Depth- 73cm. For freight-0.675 X2 = 1.35 cbm. Please read our 1200+ ebay feedback comments spanning 21 years (all are for vintage SALES and ALL are positive and 5-star feedbacks in every category). This is your guarantee that we strive to describe all our items as accurately as we can.
