Description
SOLD in 2024- $4,000 (for all EIGHT chairs)!
Priced at- $625 PER chair if you want a pair. $500 PER chair if you want all eight.
LOCATION- being sold under consignment by a private seller from CANBERRA, ACT (close to the city). I personally worked with these chairs and checked every chair carefully. This set can be transported Australia-wide for a reasonable additional fee (about $330 to freight all 8 chairs to Sydney).
Provenance and Background Info
Description written in 2023.
This would be one of the rarest dining suites we’ve ever had. In 22 years of trading I’ve never seen a set of 8 of these chairs assembled ever. We’ve never stocked any of these chairs before and in fact after 22 years, I’d never seen even ONE of these chairs in the flesh before this set. This motivated me to travel to CANBERRA to specifically work with this suite (there were no other items for me in Canberra at the time). This is a fascinating design and interesting piece of Australian design history.
These are Safari dining chairs produced in Australia either in the very late-1950’s or 1960 by Michael Hirst (1917 – 2002). Michael Hirst designed a body of work but this particular design would be his most notable. Based on Indian Roorkhee Chairs used by the British military, the Safari Chair is an early example of self-assembled furniture. The fact that this Michael Hirst design requires NO glue, NO screws or other attachments and can be assembled without any tools is testament to this intelligent design. What I like so much about it though, is that the clever construction causes the chair joints to tighten when the chairs are sat on giving them a strength and stability not often experienced.
I’m not sure what the timber is- I read elsewhere it’s Rosewood- I’m not going to say it is. The light tone contradicts this as does the lack of figuring in the timber grain. The timber has quite a plain grain to it- it could be Coachwood (or maybe Tasmanian Oak) … I’m not sure. A couple of websites have stated that the seat and back sections on Michael Hirst chairs are leather when you can clearly see in their photos that it’s not (I don’t know how these people get away with making such (assertive) statements). The black upholstery is definitely vinyl (and it’s definitely original too)- they were all made with vinyl seats and backs back in the 50’s or 60’s. (The arm-straps are saddle-leather.)
Vinyl is the more intelligent choice. With the inherent stretching that occurs when sitting in this design, leather over time would develop stress-lines and cracking. This has not occurred with these chairs (after about 60 years!). Look at the upholstery after all these years of use- incredible! They look close to new (and all Michael Hirst chairs that I saw in photos online do too). Michael Hirst Safari chairs were made at the time when vinyl was first coming into use. It was the “new sensation” and used in all ground-breaking furniture design at the time including Parker and FLER- even Featherston contour chairs were done in vinyl back in the day (and never leather).
This style of chairs were also made in Denmark back in the 1950’s and 1960’s and vintage examples can fetch several thousand dollars EACH (as shown in our photos). The only other extended set I could find was a set of 6 that sold through Vampt in Sydney for AU $6,600 years ago. This design has also been used by interior designers over the years with startling effect (though I’ve never seen a set of 8 before). Rare is an understatement. The investment appeal on offer here is obvious. I strongly doubt they could be made today for the price we’ve got them priced at. Appreciation in value in future years is pretty-much guaranteed (well if I was to be honest- guaranteed- but I have received hate-mail for making such comments when these comments are in fact the truth…)
Vintage chairs from the 1960’s with the Danish design aesthetic sell for around AU $10,000 for sets of 8 like this by experienced dealers (at least – IF you could find another set of 8)- written 2023. And values for chairs like these CONSTANTLY go up- I’ve seen this first hand over the last 22 years I’ve been running iNVISeDGE. Many modern dining chairs end up at as landfill within years but when sets of vintage chairs like these Michael Hirst Safari chairs look like this after 60 years of use, buyers have full confidence of the quality they’re investing in before shelling out even a cent. There are very few better ways to invest in your home and reduce landfill.
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