Description
Recently re-upholstered. SOLD to ALEX about 3 weeks after being listed in our NEWLY LISTED Category. SOLD for $1675- very-late MARCH 2020 (it had a $320 DISCOUNT during the first COVID-19 LOCK-DOWN). NORMAL iNVISeDGE VALUE in 2020- $1995. This piece has increased in value since 2020. UPDATE 2023- I’d now price this exact sofa at $2250-$2300.
Background Info and Provenance
A vintage Cintique Day Bed made in the 1950’s. In my opinion this daybed is one of the best sofas / day-beds ever made. Its curvilinear form combined with its boxy minimalist shape means the piece attracts attention but is still refined and elegant… And the high elevation off the floor from the tapered legs heightens the wow-factor. This piece was recently used to style an apartment that has recently sold- I was there for one of the Open Homes. People were literally banging on the door, half an hour before the Open Home was supposed to start- I was still inside, teeth unbrushed, eating Vita Brits, bag in tow (to head Brisbane for several weeks). I could hear the buzz as soon as people entered. I heard time and time again, “love that sofa” when they walked inside. (Weren’t they supposed to love the apartment? They did- the apartment sold 4 weeks prior to the auction for a record price for the area.) Every real estate agent that was interviewed fell in love with the sofa … now here’s your chance to own it! Obviously, this is another very reluctant sale for me but I learnt a decade ago this is not the business to get attached to things. There’s only a few small items that follow me around everywhere- my main furniture items come and go … a metaphor for life itself… But make no mistake, I will miss this one!
… The background and designer-history of this piece still stumps me. It was made by Cintique in the 1950’s- that’s all I know definitively. I was under the impression for a long time this was an English piece. Cintique is a highly-respected UK furniture brand that has shaped sofa and chair frames for over 110 years. But their work is virtually all crafted from Beech timber- this is not Beech- to my eye it’s Coachwood, a timber used in Australian furniture production in the 1950’s. That in itself means it’s very unlikely to be Cintique, the UK brand. But further internet research has ascertained it’s definitely not English. The thing is there’s very little information around about Cintique, the Australian furniture brand online. The two things I found out is that this is the best piece of design the Australian Cintique-brand ever did and that they were based in Sydney in the 1950’s. I could not ascertain whether the Australian Cintique brand was ever affiliated with the UK brand.
Combining stunning looks with practicality, this is the perfect sitting sofa … but flick off the back cushions and you have a bed-space that’s big enough for the average adult to lie out on- perfect for those lazy Sunday afternoons. On top of this, the loose cushions sitting on the timber frame are practical in every other sense- so easy to keep looking good. This sofa was used in an Airbnb property for 2.5 years. I had to take one of the green covers off once to clean off a food stain. I simply unzipped it off, sprayed the affected area, rinsed it out completely with water and returned it straight back to the cushion in minutes before putting it out in the sun. Three months ago, I machine-laundered 3 or 4 of the covers on the gentle cycle (and returned them to the cushions whilst still damp to prevent shrinkage). The covers look pretty-much the same as how they were straight after they were re-upholstered… Re-upholstery was also a breeze. I simply took the old original covers (which were festy!) with this quality WARWICK fabric to an upholsterer. She sewed up the new covers for $280 all up. A good investment considering the covers have many years of life left in them and they’ve already had solid use from holidaying families for 2.5 years.
The comfort of this sofa is very good- it’s perfect as a sitting lounge- the angles are great plus there’s nice plushness and the right level of support. And if you lie out a bit, it can also be used for watching movies on. This leaves us with investment appeal- if someone was to create a piece like this in Australia again, they’d have to ask around $4000 for it just to stay in business. But no-one is making them like this anymore. If you dally-around deciding whether or not you should go for this one, I doubt it will wait around for you. It’s likely you’ll be left wondering where you might possibly find another. Vintage furniture in blonde-timber is much harder to get compared to the standard blackwood / teak. I’ve tried to stock a cool 50’s day bed like this in iNVISeDGE since I sold an Ercol daybed in 2014 (which was in a similar style- it was a VERY popular listing at the time)- anything with this type of style is just not around. Yes, the Parker ones are nice but so boring when you put them beside something like this. (And that’s not because Parker sofas are boring but because Parker-TYPE sofas seem to everywhere.)
This 60-YEAR OLD sofa is solid proof that when something has been done well it will live on and will only become MORE-VALUED as the years roll on. The durability of its construction has proven itself over the last 60 years. There are metal springs under the cushions which illustrates the quality. This piece has avoided landfill and is set to passed from this generation to the next. There’s no better way I can think of to invest in your home and reduce your carbon footprint.
2002
