Description
Price is PER chair. Priority will be given to those who’d like to purchase the matching pair.
LOCATION- Eagle Junction area, about 6km from Brisbane city (Northside of the city), but these can be transported Australia-wide. It’d cost about $200 to get this pair to Sydney.
Provenance and Background Info
A stunning PAIR of cane / rattan saucer chairs in a very highly sought-after shape and style. The last time we had chairs in this design or anything like them was back in 2007! RARE is an understatement- to add to the investment appeal on offer here is the fact that this design is HIGHLY sought-after on a world-wide platform. I’ve seen single chairs in this style sell overseas for OVER AU$3,000 PER CHAIR. The investment appeal on offer here is a NO-BRAINER! The chair like this that we sold back in 2007 was featured in the October, 2007 issue of Celebrity Homes magazine. “Celebrity Homes” approached iNVISeDGE for some interesting vintage items for their magazine- a chair in this design style was one of only 3 pieces selected for their magazine. It’s a stunning piece that captured attention back then, this matching pair (which is WAY harder to source compared to just a single chair) will surely do the same thing and it’s not hard to see why- these chairs would suit a myriad of interiors. I’ve seen them in a couple of interior design magazines used with stunning effect. The eye-catching shape lends itself to designer interiors but its warm slant gives scope to add plenty of natural additions to your space and to use a more-earthy colour palette.
The “retro” slant gives it character and appeal that so few items have … PLUS this is a genuine VINTAGE pair. The exact age is unknown but they do have age to them. My prediction is 1970’s ??? I don’t think they are a 1950’s production but don’t really know to be honest. They’ve been used outside which makes it impossible to ascertain age based on general wear and usage marks. The rattan piece that ran around the base of the chair had blackened from being wet. This area was permanently shaded by the top part of the chair, so this section became mouldy over a period of time. Apart from that, they arrived here in brilliant condition. NO STRUCTURAL ISSUES AT ALL, NO cracks or splits, the cane bindings were all in incredibly good condition and the cane areas that were exposed to sunlight looked great. I painted the areas that had blackened (the black areas were really old and had well-and-truly dried out by the time I painted these areas- I’d stored them for 8 years beforehand but they’d completely dried out well before they’d come in. The second I saw these chairs, I “pounced” on them, hoping I’d get the chance to use them in my own home. Since buying them 8 years ago (and paying to store them this whole time) I have not come across anything like them ever since. It’s with a heavy heart I’m now letting them go. I LOVE them (! … even as they are now with the “tidied up” sections- but there’s nowhere for them to go here. (The “tidied up” sections gives them extra character and appeal in my eyes. I LOVE vintage character, you may not.)
Miss this pair and I doubt you’ll come across anything similar ever again.
To top it all off, these chairs boast SUPERIOR construction qualities. They were used outside for an extended period of time and this had very little effect on them. To state they’re durable chairs is an understatement. If used inside (sensibly) from now on or in an under-covered area outside that’s protected from direct rain, this pair will very likely last forever. I’m not saying a generation here because that would be false. I’ve seen rattan chairs from the 1930’s and 1940’s that are structurally perfect after about 80 years of use. In my opinion, the same thing is bound to happen with these- the rattan is thick and heavy-duty.
Vintage cane / rattan pieces hold up extremely well over time and are so tough that many people use them outside on verandas. (I would recommend a well-covered space though- a light splash of rain every now and then, shouldn’t ruin your investment.) Vintage pieces like this are a smart way to go- if they look like this after about 50 years of use, the quality you’re getting is irrefutable.
If you’ve read this far, you might be asking about the provenance / background of this particular pair. To get to the point, I really don’t know. I didn’t get the privilege of talking to the previous owners, so can only guess. I’d say they might be a 1970’s production- that’s just a guess based on my experience in this business. If I had to try and attribute provenance further, I’d say they were made in Italy. I’ve seen nothing like them in Australia ever (after 24 years of being in this business). Guessing that they’re Australian makes no sense- there would be more of them around and there’s just isn’t! This design is in the same style of Franco Albini pieces made in the 1950’s.
Stunning and interesting is an understatement. Oozing with an interior design appeal is also an understatement. The rarity and size/proportions of these chairs makes them perfect in so many interiors. After similar-looking “designer” chairs have ended up as landfill, this pair will be passed onto future generations, telling a swarm of new stories as they go. There’s no better way I can think of to invest in your home and the future of our environment.
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