CH25 Hans Wegner: original or not?  

I'm certainly no expert, but the photos look good to me. Proportions, tapered arms, weave, wear, and patina all appear to my eye just as they should. Inspect the metal parts under the seat to make sure that they conform to original configuration and, if it's not marked, trust your instincts. Bon chance!

Looks real to me and that price I would snap it up!

(I just restored one of these.)

Hi, thank you both for your feedback.

The chair is indeed original, with a genuine label under one of the armrests. The papercord on the back is in really good shape, but the seat needs to be redone.

Do you think that I would be able to do it, even if I have never done something like this before? Do you know of any video or tutorial on how to redo such seat?

Thank you for your help!

Ernest

Yes, you can weave a new seat yourself. It's not the easiest one to do for a beginner but if you're handy and also meticulous and methodical by nature, then you can probably do a pretty good job. There are a number of pretty good tutorials online (photo series and videos) of basic Danish cord weaving but none that I know of for this chair. It has a few quirks in the design. At least you have the original seat to study before you start, though. That will help.

There are three very long threads on DA about weaving Danish cord in general, with specifics about various chairs. I know the back of this one has been discussed but I'm not sure there is much about the seat.

Here's the first thread:

https://www.designaddict.com/?q=forum/Repair/Replacing-Cord-Danish-Side-C...

There's a link to the 2nd thread near the end of that one, and the 2nd thread has a link to the third thread.

It starts with someone who decided to do it himself and then photos of his finished chairs, which are gorgeous! Granted, they are chairs without the quirks of the CH25, but the CH25 seat quirks are not as quirky as the CH25 back quirks. I'm pretty sure I can talk you through them, especially since i just finished one last week. (though if you wait a year or two to do it, it won't be so fresh in my mind!)

There are a lot of tips in those threads that you won't find anywhere else, though not all will be useable when doing this chair due to its particular design. It's closer to the Wegner CH23 dining chair weave, with some differences.

Do keep in mind that the color of new cord will not match the old cord in the back. Just something to think about. Cord darkens as it ages but this takes at least a few years, maybe longer. I don't know what if anything can be done safely to darken the cord to match. You have to think about whether a stain or dye will rub off on clothing and whether it will penetrate the weave evenly. I've never done it.

Oh, and whatever you do--do not remove the two lengths of baling wire that span the two steel rods under the seat! I know they look like some kind of old DIY addition, but they're original.

Dear spanky,

thank you for the useful suggestions. I knew the links that you posted.

I was actually hoping to find someone here in Switzerland or Germany that could do the work for me, for a reasonable price of course. There is someone in Germany that restores the Wishbone chair, but did not want to redo my CH25.

It seems to be impossible for find anyone. Do you have any suggestion for these two countries? I guess the other choice would be to find someone in Denmark. The problem is that at a certain point the costs of restorations and shipment will exceed or equal the costs of a new CH25, which I would like to avoid.

For the color, the best would be to find an old danish paper cord, but I guess these stocks are rare... Indeed having the seat redone is important, and I could probably live with the seat being not so yellow.

Any suggestion in very appreciated.

Thank you

Ernest.

PS: too bad you're so far away, otherwise I would have shipped it to you!

I have every confidence in your ability to get this done once you decide to really put your mind to it, Ernest. One way or the other.

Start by inquiring with vintage furniture dealers in your area about who they use for restoration. This is basic detective work. If this route proves unsatisfactory, devote resources into acquiring the tools, materials, and skills necessary to complete the job on your own. Yeah, it's tricky and experience counts, but it's not rocket science. And imagine the sense of accomplishment!

I am with tktoo--talk to dealers in the area. They buy woven chairs in poor condition all the time and have them redone in order to sell them. I guess they might want to keep the names to themselves if they think that there will be more competition for trashed chairs if people know where to go to get them fixed...?? Anyway, it's worth a try.

You can also do it yourself if it comes to that. I've seen some chairs done by beginners that were not very good but I've seen a lot that were beautifully done! You just need to be willing to be careful and to pay attention even when you think you've got it down and don't need to pay attention anymore!

The good thing about the seats on these is that you can use a shorter strands for the weft and just tie more knots---because the knots can easily be hidden. It's probably the best chair for joining a new strand of cord. Shorter lengths mean less time having to stop to untangle annoying snarls.

As for finding old stock of cord--I doubt there's much out there and it could take a very long to find some. If you want to use the chair, I'd just go ahead with new cord.

Hi spanky, I have indeed contacted some shops in the area that sells vintage and design furniture, because in the past I have seen some m̦ller chairs that were clearly freshly restored. But noone responded me, and I was guessing exactly the same.They might do not tell rather than having people starting to restore stuff. But that's of course a guess.

Cheers,

Ernest.