Description
The listing price of $795 is for ONE single-seater armchair. There’s a matching pair of single-seater chairs, a 2-seater sofa, footstool/ottoman, lamp table and coffee table available that all priced SEPARATELY. Priority will be given to customers who want all the pieces (or most of them). It’d be $2,895 for BOTH armchairs and the 2-seater sofa. This suite could NEVER be made for that price- bargain! Call (or SMS) us on the phone number in our CONTACT section for further information.
LOCATION- Heathcote, North of MELBOURNE but these pieces can be freighted Australia-wide by a specialist furniture carrier. Approx. $400 to get all the lounge furniture (without the coffee tables) up to Sydney.
Background Info and Provenance
(This description was written in 2024. Some information may be time-sensitive eg. values.)
Utterly inspiring were the words that stuck in my mind as I was photographing this suite from 1978 on a chilly morning in Heathcote, country Victoria a couple of weeks ago. The passion I felt from working with such exceptional furniture was heart-warming- to be standing there alongside a design-great such as Gerald Easden almost 50 years after he created this furniture was a feeling not lost on me. These pieces invoked feelings of awe from the sheer quality of what was before me as well as the design- a design that is all-class. The sophistication of the styling elevates this suite to a league of its own. This furniture was made in AUSTRALIA during the late-1970’s when furniture makers focussed less on showy “acrobatics” and turned to the task at hand- making honest, quality furniture that would stand the test of time. And that it has- just look at this suite after almost 50 years! … utterly inspiring; there are no other words!
This design is called, The Matilda, part of Module International’s “Australian Cultural Heritage Collection”, designed by Gerald Easden, Australia’s leading furniture designer of the era and winner of 23 Design Awards. I love the clean lines, the bold sophisticated stance and the style that pays homage to other great designers before him such as Percival Lafer and Jean Gillon.
It was some of the most exclusive furniture of its time with a price-tag to match. The brochure that my vendor has retained since they purchased the suite back in 1978 shows prices written above each item in that cursive script of the time- the full value of the 2-seater and 2 chairs- $2,044, the footstool- $270, the coffee table- $201 and the lamp table was $175. The full value of this suite back in 1978 was $2,690. With inflation, $2,690 is now worth $16,500. The value and investment appeal of what’s on offer here is a no-brainer. To make this furniture again in Australia to the standard of what you see here, you’d be looking at paying over $15,000 for it but in all honesty it’d probably be more than that.
We had a similar lounge suite on offer last year in iNVISeDGE. It sat online for about 3 months- a couple of people tried to negotiate in price- I stood firm. As soon as it sold, 3 people came out of the woodwork bitterly disappointed they’d missed it. After all, where are you going to find another suite with this level of callibre and appeal? Yes- there are similar suites around but do they invoke the same level of inspiration?
And make no mistake, this suite may look all sophisticated and confident standing there in front of you, but it’s the comfort that comes up trumps- soooo beautiful to sink into and the lusciousness of the leather is something you need to experience to believe. This suite conjures up the comfort you’d expect from a cigar room back in the art deco period, but put that image aside for a while and imagine instead it in a warehouse conversion with tall raked ceilings and exposed brickwork… Or in front of a fireplace out in the country, capping off a look that’s all warm, cosy and embracing. You’ll notice the slant-back of the seat that takes all the pressure off your back and the differing sizes of the back cushions to embrace you like nothing else. The comfort has been very carefully considered- at least as much as the sophisticated, confident look.
This one-owner suite, that was some of the most exclusive furniture of the era, served their owners very well over a period of about 45 years. It was a small fortune for them to pay back in 1978 but how do you put a value on the lifetime of memories it holds? It was no easy feat for my vendor to finally decide to part with it after all these years of it being part of the family … or would have it been more apt to say, part of the furniture? But all good things must come to end, as hard as that may be to bear- she is starting to downsize and their pride and joy of 1978 must find another loving home who will value, cherish it and pass it onto yet another generation- just like these vendors have done. I have no doubt this vendor would have been very happy to hear I was prepared to travel all the way to Heathcote (along with some other jobs in the general vicinity) to ensure that the legacy of this suite will live on. (I am based in Brisbane so it was no easy feat for this listing to appear here.)
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