Description
PRICED AT OFFERS OVER $2,995.
LOCATION- being sold under consignment by a private seller in Carina Heights, BRISBANE. I personally worked with this chair and photographed it so I’d know exactly what I was representing. This chair can be transported Australia-wide for a reasonable fee. It would cost ABOUT $220 to get it to Sydney.
Provenance and Background Info
(Written in 2025)
In my opinion, this is the most special chair I’ve offered for quite some time and certainly one of the best investments I’ve offered in 24 years of trading. This R152 chair by Grant Featherston is fully original- it’s one of the best Featherston examples I’ve ever seen. Circa 1952- this makes the chair over 70 years old. I love this original upholstery too. It’s neutral but opulent-looking and also has a distinct vintage look, without being over the top. There’s interest in the fabric but not too much- the stylish shape still takes centre-stage here.
I love this chair exactly as it is- it’s perfect in my eyes. When something is 70 years old, you have to expect some use. What’s the point of owning a genuine vintage chair that looks like it’s never been sat on? This chair has been used and loved but there’s no abuse- no signs of use that stand out. It presents extremely well as is- vintage- but very well. This is a much-revered piece of furniture history. You’d be hard-pressed to find anything with more vintage appeal.
RARE is an understatement. Stylish is an understatement. Comfortable is an understatement. A dam-good INVESTMENT is an understatement. You’re not buying anything here- you’re INVESTING. There’s absolutely no way this piece could ever lose any value at this reserve price. Even at significantly more, this chair will not lose any value in the future.
The Featherston R152 Contour Chair (designed by Grant Featherston in 1951 / 52), is a design sensation and this particular shape has never been reproduced nor will it ever be (the last part of that statement is my opinion only but I don’t believe I will ever be proven wrong here). The Featherston R160 chair was reproduced in China and has ended up ALL OVER THE WORLD. That happened in the very early-2000’s. If they were going to try any of his other designs (including this one), they would have done it by now. They haven’t replicated this design for one simple reason- it’s not as “designer-looking” as the R160. The “simplicity” of this design means that I can’t see it ever being “picked-up” by China and being replicated to death … but even if this did happen in the far distant future, this particular R152 chair has something going for it that most in this design doesn’t. It’s FULLY ORIGINAL!
Even the timber base here is ORIGINAL. It’s Coachwood and in amazing condition for a chair of this age- no breaks, no repairs.
I will finish this description by adding part of this fascinating entry on the NGV website called, “Grant Featherston’s R152 Contour chair” written by Kirsty Grant on 12 Jun 2014. There’s no point even trying to summarise the most important points of this article. The whole thing is fascinating, deserves to be read and is so well-written no-one in their right mind would even try to write it any better.
“Grant Featherston’s R152 Contour chair” written by Kirsty Grant- 12 Jun 14
“It was sometime in 1950, while playing with a tram ticket, that Grant Featherston came up with the idea to bend and join two pieces of plywood to form the shell of a chair. He patented this method in 1951 and later that year released the R152 Contour chair (the exact chair design offered in this listing), the first model in a range that would include, among others, various lounge chairs, a rocking chair and an elegant chaise longue. His designs struck a chord and soon, as the architect Neil Clerehan wrote, ‘no contemporary house was regarded as complete … without a pair of Featherston chairs before its bagged brick fireplace.’
The National Gallery of Victoria holds an extensive collection of furniture designed by Grant Featherston but this example of the R152 is particularly significant due to the fact that it was purchased for the permanent collection in 1955, just four years after this design went into production. Because it has been in the gallery’s collection since it was made – stored in optimal conditions and rarely, if ever, sat on – the chair is in pristine and original condition and as a result, is very rare, if not unique. The Gallery paid £14/1/6 for the chair and with this acquisition, Grant Featherston became the first Australian industrial designer to have his work represented in the National Gallery of Victoria’s collection.
We don’t know who was responsible for recommending the R152 for acquisition but … ”
It goes on…
Visit – https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/grant-featherstons-r152-contour-chair/ … for more reasons why you need to invest in this divine piece of furniture design. :+)
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