Description
This PAIR of chairs sold through iNVISeDGE for $1495 for BOTH back in 2005. These days in 2019 I’d price them at slightly more. I have pasted the description I wrote for these back in 2006 below- I’d write this description quite differently these days. These are actually VERY RARE chairs and I had no idea how rare back then. (I’ve never come across another pair in 18 years.) I still think these are Douglas Snelling’s work but at the end of his stint producing furniture for the Australian market. At one stage I thought they may have been by Parker Knoll in the UK but after studying the shape of the Parker Knoll design these are noticeably different. Douglas Snelling may have got his inspiration for this design from Parker Knoll but I like this shape more. He got his inspiration (or “ripped off” to be more blunt!) the design for his webbed dining chairs from Jens Risom but again I think he improved the shape of those as well so it’s not a bad thing really. Snelling’s dining chairs have more a mix of angles and flowing curves compared with Risom’s design which is more boxy and less fluid.
Description as it was written in 2005
A VERY rare PAIR of mid-1950s Snelling lounge chairs that we had re-upholstered in a quality Warwick Textile upholstery. I’m virtually certain these were done by Australian designer, Douglas Snelling- to my eyes the shape and construction qualities are undisputedly the work of Snelling. (Plus they came out of the same house as tagged Snelling dining chairs so it’s pretty certain.) Douglas Snelling is more renowned for the webbed easy chair in this shape which is now a design icon and has since been copied the world over. The webbed chair in this style was first designed for the Australian market straight after World War II, by designer Douglas Snelling, to make use of the abundance of parachutes left over after the war. This pair varies in that they’re fully upholstered and actually rarer than the webbed chair- I’d say they were done a little later, more like the mid-1950s. This is about the same time Grant Featherston was producing the famous contour series of chairs. Snelling’s work is at least as rare as Featherston’s and from the same era so these are certainly investment pieces and should only appreciate in value for years to come. I like these just as much Featherston’s contour chairs- they’re leaner and have a more refined shape making them easier to adapt to any space. With a cool design, that’s sensible but distinctly 1950s, this pair of easy chairs are a comfortable and smart furniture investment. They’ll add a splash of fun to any room and be a pair you may want to keep forever. I’d have them myself (if I could keep everything!). At around $750 each you can pay more for single-seater lounge chairs in Freedom Furniture. Why buy furniture when you can invest in it?
