Description
SOLD! Click into our NEWLY LISTED Section for new listings!
SOLD for $500 the pair- we won’t stock this design again for a few years. Please do not ask us to sell this design!
This suite SOLD under consignment by a regular iNVISeDGE seller located in GEELONG, near Melbourne. Interstate freight can also be arranged through one of our preferred furniture carriers or a carrier of your choice for a very reasonable fee. 6 chairs to Sydney would be about $240. I have personally inspected and experienced this suite in person- it’s in stunning condition.
Provenance and Background Info
Written in 2020
A Norman Archibald carver chair MADE IN AUSTRALIA in 1973. (The price is for ONE carver chair but we have two of these and also a matching set of 4 standard dining chairs available- priced separately.) This is undoubtedly some of the best QUALITY furniture I’ve come across in the last 20 years of being this business (if not THE best). These chairs are solid and heavy- if used with any sense, the frames will last FOREVER. For most items being sold through iNVISeDGE I can confidently say the item will last generations but for these chairs I believe the frames will last forever. This is because Norman Archibald has used traditional, TENON and MORTICE joints to craft these exposed timber plug ends. This not only creates an interesting visual look but means the joint areas are as strong as chair-joints can possibly be. These joints extend ALL THE WAY through the supporting post which means it’s impossible for them to prise apart. Cracks in the joint area and other joint-damage is virtually impossible which means these frames will last forever (providing you use and transport them with a little sense). The saddle-leather is also some of the most luxurious chair-upholstery I’ve seen. This leather is SUPER thick and just beautiful! You don’t see upholstery of this QUALITY in furniture anymore (except in some of the premium brands such as Cassina and B & B Italia). Six Cassina dining chairs will set you back about AU $20,000! Incredibly, we’ve priced these chairs at LESS than one tenth the price of a Cassina chair! Saddle-leather is also VERY-durable providing look after it! Leather is a low-maintenance product. You must regularly clean leather if you sweat in your leather furniture and MUST keep leather well-moisturised with a quality leather conditioner (especially if your leather furniture will be exposed to a temperature-controlled environment (eg. air-conditioning).
With the warm-grain orientation from this beautiful eucalyptus-timber and FULL-GRAIN saddle leather, this Norman Archibald suite is in a category of its own. These chairs are COMFORTABLE, DURABLE plus they have incredible INVESTMENT appeal- (I doubt that these chairs could be built in Australia today for QUADRUPLE this price). The craftsmanship, timber and leather are all a stunning combination so the LOOKS box also gets a resounding tick … This leaves us with the consideration of conscious consumption.
These chairs are almost 50 YEARS OLD and look at them! They certainly won’t be ending up in landfill anytime soon. Additionally, they were HAND-CRAFTED locally- so virtually no carbon emissions resulted from the manufacture and freight of these chairs. These chairs were crafted in Melbourne in the 1970’s and are still in Melbourne- they have not been shipped half-way around the globe from a developing economy! Shipping furniture in from overseas is not smart- we could and should be making our furniture in Australia again. Most mass-produced furniture is purposely built to end up as our landfill within about 10 years so we have to go out and buy more. This set of chairs is competitive in price when you put them beside chairs coming out of a modern-production factory but there’s absolutely NO comparison as far as craftsmanship and quality is concerned. Additionally, if you decide to invest in these chairs, you will be supporting a SMALL Australian business that only employs LOCAL people. We obviously don’t have an overseas call centre. And we also DON’T outsource our website-development to an overseas country- a lot of Australia’s website development work today is now being done in India).
This set would also undoubtedly be the best in this range I have come across condition-wise during my years in iNVISeDGE. The 100% full-grain leather and timber presents as if it were produced yesterday, not around 1973. It’s almost as if this suite has come out of a time capsule! Visually stunning, these chairs are true statement pieces and with their low-line backs they won’t dominate the space. I can picture these in a homely cottage up in the mountains- they look warm and inviting to use- not cold and clinical like most “designer” furniture these days.
Norman Archibald’s furniture is triumph in Australian furniture design and craftsmanship. It’s deservedly included in important gallery and museum collections Australia-wide such as the NGV collection. Founded in 1861, the NGV is the oldest and most visited gallery in Australia. This Gallery hosts a wide range of international and local artists, exhibitions and events; from contemporary art to major international historic exhibitions, fashion and design, architecture, sound and dance. http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/about/.
iNVISeDGE – a breath of fresh air in this modern world and also for our environment. There’s no better way to invest in your home, reduce landfill and your carbon footprint.
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