$890.00

SOLD TO SUSAN WITHIN ONE DAY OF BEING LISTED ON THIS WEBSITE IN 2018- $890 the PAIR- these stools did NOT appear on social media or elsewhere! One stool did have condition issues (with the leather), hence this low sale price. Keep following our NEWLY LISTED Category. Let us know if you have interest in buying OR SELLING Rufenacht furniture.

 

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Description

SOLD TO SUSAN WITHIN ONE DAY OF BEING LISTED ON THIS WEBSITE IN 2018- $890 the PAIR- these did NOT appear on social media or elsewhere! One stool did have condition issues (only with the leather- the frame was perfect), hence this low sale price. Regularly click into our NEWLY LISTED Category or follow us on Instagram. One of the stools had condition issues, hence this low sale price. 

Provenance and Background Info

(Written in 2018)

A stunning PAIR of VINTAGE LEATHER bar stools by highly acclaimed South Australian furniture designer and manufacturer Joe Rufenacht. These are bloody rare! I’ve been a fan of Rufenacht’s work since I first discovered it in 2004- I didn’t even know the bar stools existed until about 2 years ago. I came across a photo of a single one in 2017 and was immediately in awe of the design. These are the first Rufenacht bar stools I’ve seen in the flesh. TH Brown and Sons bar stools are iconic and special but I think this design by Rufenacht is clearly better. TH Brown bar stools are an Australian original design- these stools are too but they’re much more comfortable than TH Brown stools, they have leather upholstery (as opposed to vinyl) and there’s a lot more investment appeal tied up in this pair. I value TH Brown barstools at $1550 THE PAIR in iNVISeDGE (in 2019). The price of this pair here in iNVISeDGE today is a no-brainer- particularly when you consider that the new re-issues of TH Brown barstools are now selling for $2200 the PAIR. These are infinitely harder to get than TH Brown stools as well! Sinewy and flowing with a distinct Scandinavian flavour, these are NOT a copy of anything else I’ve ever come across. Yes; they pay homage to the famous Falcon chair but they take that design to a new level. Falcon chairs are fetching up to $5000 THE PAIR in Australia- these are the same vintage and I think they’re just as special.

There was a time in the late-1970’s when Joe Rufenacht had won more furniture design awards than anybody else in Australia. ‘How?’ you may ask, when virtually no-one has ever heard him. Because Rufenacht was a stickler for quality- he was fastidious about furniture. One of his chair designs was put through 40 prototypes! I’m not sure I’d ever have the patience to re-build something from scratch 40-times before releasing it to the public (and I’m very patient and fussy!)

The investment appeal box is ticked, comfort- ticked (these are more comfortable than virtually any bar stool I’ve sat in) which leaves quality and value for money.

After many modern pieces end up as landfill these 30+ year old chairs will be passed onto another owner and then yet another generation. It was said on the ABC in 2006 that Rufenacht’s furniture will be the antiques of tomorrow and after being in this business for almost 20 years I agree. JR furniture (Rufenacht’s company) closed its doors in 2006, unable to compete with cheap overseas imports any longer- the quality of JR items is not comparable to virtually any furniture import I’ve seen. As an example of the quality, Rufenacht only used Howe Leather. (There’s a vintage Howe Leather label under at least one of these.) I believe Howe Leather from the 1970’s and 1980’s is some of the best leather ever made. I have sold vintage Italian leather and the rest … in my eyes the leather of these chairs is as good as any other leather you’ll find.

Designs like this are the reason I do this job. They’re inspirational  and show us all the way forward. Most modern furniture is made with little respect for the earth’s resources and even less for the workers who make them (they’re virtually slaves). If these chairs were made today in Australia, I would still promote them but the fact they’re vintage (and no longer made) makes them all the more special. There’s no better way I can think of to invest in your home and our environment.

NOTE- The price of these would ordinarily be at least $1,200 the pair but the leather on the seat of one chair is not perfect- it still presents extremely well though for something of this vintage. Click on the Condition and Dimensions tab and read this full section.

1909 

BOTH chairs are structurally very strong and sturdy with no structural signs of use or age at all. The timber-work is in sensational condition for a pair of this age. The leather on one chair is in brilliant condition for a vintage chair- the other I’d classify as very good condition overall for a chair that’s 30-odd years old. The price of this pair would be at least $950 the pair (more likely $990 though) but the leather on the seat of one chair is not perfect. In saying this it presents very well and most people will have no idea what I’m talking about. (It now looks basically the same as the other.) The leather on the seat of one chair was well-used when it came in (that chair was obviously used constantly over 30-odd years). I did a minor professional repair (to fix a small cut in the leather) and a overall tidy-up of the seat section. I’ve been trained as a leather technician and I’m really happy with the result. For full disclosure, I need to state that when you scrutinize this seat closely, you’ll see feint signs of its past life. This will not affect the stool in any way and I see no reason why the leather on the second stool won’t hold up to another 30 years of use. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I’ve priced the stool in great condition at $490 and the stool with the seat that’s been tidied up at $360 so I've accounted for this in the price. If you did ever need to re-upholster the seat section of the second stool it’s not hard and wouldn’t cost a lot. You can get leather professionally coloured to match what you already have as well (if you want to retain the original leather for future generations). Down the track you may want to get both stools reupholstered- this is not a big deal nor costly (the seat sections are small) but at the moment it's certainly not warranted. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Measurements. Height- Seat, 63 cm Total, 87 cm. Across- 51 cm. Depth- 50 cm. Depth of seat- 38 cm. For freight- 0.215 cbm each = 0.43 cbm for both.
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