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Mid-Century Dining Chair Set Identification Help!  

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user_263
(@user_263)
New Member
Joined: 3 years ago
Posts: 1
02/02/2022 8:14 pm  

I just picked up a set of 6 of these Mid-Century Dining Chairs and unfortunately their tags appear to have been lost/removed, most likely during a reupholstery job.  Does anyone know the maker?  I've definitely seen them before but can't seem to find any good leads on image searches.

1643829272-IMG_0171.jpg

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lexi
 lexi
(@lexi)
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Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 1286
03/02/2022 7:34 am  

@user_263 Got a few hits on an image search. John Stewart. One poster shows a dining set with the John Stewart badge but not sure if this on the table or the chairs.

Anyways, somewhere for you to start your search.

 

Knowledge shared is Knowledge gained


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mark737
(@mark737)
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Joined: 2026 years ago
Posts: 877
04/02/2022 1:38 am  

This pair of side chairs sold at auction had John Stuart medallions, and there's a set for sale on 1stDibs also attributed to Stuart.  As has been discussed here previously, John Stuart Inc was not a maker, but a dealer who sold furniture by Danish and American makers to interior designers and retailers through showrooms in Grand Rapids, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, London,  and  Hillerød, Denmark.  So the next step would be to determine who actually made the chairs. Probably a Grand Rapids maker like Johnson or Widdicomb.  

Update:

Saw a few listings attributing them to Mt Airy Chair Company for John Stuart.  So, maybe not a Grand Rapids company.   

 

1643935082-Stu1.jpg

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Herringbone
(@herringbone)
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Joined: 2026 years ago
Posts: 1210
04/02/2022 9:41 am  

@mark737 Really, John Stuart had a showroom in Hillerød? That’s weird. For the American tourists to show them what they could have gotten at home?

"People buy a chair, and they don't really care who designed it." (Arne Jacobsen)


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mark737
(@mark737)
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Joined: 2026 years ago
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04/02/2022 4:09 pm  

@herringbone  Well, their old ads listed Hillerød along with the other showroom locations.  One of the ads includes:  "Executed by Denmark's incomparable craftsmen under the direction of Mr. C.W.E. France of Hillerød, Denmark".  I don't know if they were listing their partner France's office for marketing purposes or if they actually had their own office there.   

 

 

1643987387-StuAd.jpg

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Herringbone
(@herringbone)
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Joined: 2026 years ago
Posts: 1210
05/02/2022 12:01 am  

France & Søn had their premises in Hillerød and John Stuart seems to have very much identified with the France production at that time. It would seem reasonable that they just took Frances address for their own. But they might also have had a little showroom there. Although probably France & Søn had the showroom. Wait, France definitely opened a showroom in London in the early sixties. Finn Juhl designed it. It was a big store with a nice layout but too expensive, so it had to be closed a year or so later. This is probably the London showroom you mentioned earlier. 

"People buy a chair, and they don't really care who designed it." (Arne Jacobsen)


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leif ericson - Zephyr Renner
(@leif-ericson)
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05/02/2022 1:11 pm  

John Stuart was the exclusive USA importer for France & Søn in Hillerød.  I think the presumption behind this has to be that if you were a John Stuart completist back then you going on a visit you would discover the Hillerød showroom said France & Søn over the door, not John Stuart, and that American production represented by JS was not offered for sale. Or in other words this was creative marketing. 


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