Hi all,
I picked up this chair today at an estate sale for pretty cheap. I don't think it is a rare or valuable piece.
It seemed a bit wobbly once I got it home, and then discovered it uses keyhole fasteners, i.e., it was originally sold as a flat-packed item. The piece opposite the keyhole uses a screw that can be tightened to adjust the fit. Every piece is stamped in red "Made in Denmark" and there are no other identifiers.
I'm not a dealer or reseller so my ability to ID is pretty limited. I'm curious about the designer though. Anyone have any ideas?
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Sorry for not being very helpful, but to me this seems to be a rather generic piece. Stained beach, knock down, general appearance of a lesser quality fabrication: I guess you will have a tough time to even find out the company.
"People buy a chair, and they don't really care who designed it." (Arne Jacobsen)
Has been quite a while since I have visited designaddict. What the heck....aside from not remembering my old user/pass all the good stuff about the forum is gone. Its almost painful.
Regarding the chair. Have seen it arrtibuted to Pearsall as model 2315-c but that wouldn't make sense with the denmark stamp. I take all attributions with a grain of salt unless there is a catologue photo attached.
Wow, thanks jdip2! It does indeed appear that this chair is attributed to Pearsall as model 2315-C.
I was able to find a catalogue page which seems to confirm that this was a Craft Associates piece - or at least a chair nearly identical in appearance.
Now I'm trying to figure out the Denmark stamp. I found a dealer listing from several years back which appears to have offered both of the chairs in the above catalogue photo for sale as a pair, and mentions that both chairs are stamped "Made in Denmark." Here is the text of the advert:
PAIR OF DANISH MODERN SCULPTED SPINDLE BACK LOUNGE CHAIRS: slightly different matching chairs, both chairs stamped "Made in Denmark." One is identical to Adrian Pearsall's Bent Arm Chair Model 2315-C for Craft Associates (which was probably inspired by the Danish original).
And here is a photo from the listing:
This seller may have not been aware of Craft Associates 2317-C (from the above catalogue page), which appears to be the other chair in the pair.
Can anyone solve the mystery here? Did Pearsall borrow this Danish design and have them produced domestically by Craft Associates (seems unlikely?) or did a Danish company borrow Pearsall's design (maybe more likely)? I found at least one other dealer struggling with the same mystery and labels it a Selig chair:
http://www.resideinc.com/details.php?item=3476&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=480&width=1078
Your chair is an original Danish chair, probably designed and produced by Selig. Adrian Pearsall did produce a near-identical chair (2317-C) in the U.S. for Craft Associates. I have both chairs—you really can only spot the differences when placed side by side. Slightly modified arm, more tapered spindles, and different mechanism to affix the seat webbing. At any rate, the Pearsall chair has no maker's mark. Both are quite valuable in the auction market.
Most of the above post is correct. Pearsall did “design” a very similar chair, made by Craft, as the catalog cut shows. But as Herringbone already noted last year, this is on the lower mid-end side of Danish factory production. I have come across a few Danish knockdown chairs that have most pieces marked in red “Made in Denmark”, and never found any documentation for either designer or manufacturer. My guess is that this chair was made by the same company.
It is highly unlikely that Selig was involved with this chair. The details are all different than documented Selig chairs, and I’ve never seen a Selig chair marked with that red ink stamp.
There’s a chance this design may pop up in a vintage catalog with proper attribution in the future. I would like to know who made these red ink stamp chairs, since they pop up fairly often.
@demp945 I just found your post on the chair you were researching. I found the exact same chair and like you have been trying to find out its origin. I had a dealer tell me it was made in America but I'm confused with the "Made in Denmark 26 W" stamps on the undersides of the chair. Did you find anything out more about this that you can share?
Hi Jray,
Unfortunately, this thread contains the only information I have learned about the chair.
Looking at some additional "Ringstol" chairs, I came across this one posted on Reddit in 2018. The proportions seem a little different and none of the others appeared to have keyhole joints. It seems (as @cdsilva mentions above) that some other company produced these chairs with the red ink stamps and knockdown construction.
And in case you haven't read it, this is an interesting history of the original Selig 598 chair and it's designer, Lawrence Peabody.
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