Description

Provenance and Background Info

This chair sold through iNVISeDGE for $195 back in 2004. I had no idea who designed it back then. Today in 2019 I’d price the exact same chair at around $290-$330.

This short description was written in 2019.

One Volkschair by George Doukoff. This chair was designed by Doukoff in the 1950’s in Brisbane. Doukoff was born in Bulgaria and after immigrating to Australia he worked as a tram driver before opening his Brisbane furniture-making business. His business quickly became a success. According to Doukoff, he was “always searching for THE chair. It had to be comfortable and adaptable for use in schools, hospitals and public transport as well as in homes… And the price had to be right”. After developing many prototypes and experiments Doukoff created this design, the Volkschair, easily his most successful and well-known. It was well received by the government sector in particular and later became known as the Health-Line chair after receiving high praise from health departments in Queensland and Australia-wide

This chair is beautifully comfortable- there is an inherent flex in the back which aids comfort as does the angle. This design was made by hand back in the 1950’s when pride was taken in workmanship so it’s also extremely DURABLE. Look at the chair in these photographs after it had been used for about 50 years. (These days in 2019 Volkschairs are nearly 70 years old.) This design to me exceeds what Douglas Snelling did- this is Doukoff’s own design. Snelling mimicked what was done on an international platform- Doukoff went within to create something that worked and I think he nailed it with this design. It ticks all the boxes and also has a stunning timeless style with just a hint of that cool 50’s look.

Good design supersedes trends because it’s always in trend. And good vintage pieces get that extra tick because if a piece can look like this after 50 years of use you’re assured of the quality you’ll be getting (before you pay a cent). There are no better ways to invest in your home and reduce landfill.