I have been searching for a new sofa for my living room since a while now... The one I have at the moment is a 1960's Ikea sofa I got for free from a friend's parents and it is rapidly deteriorating. I need a replacement very soon...
While always being on the look-out for interesting lamps, chairs etc and usually wanting everything to be original, I simply don't think it is worth to spend too much cash on a designer sofa... It will be used and abused by me, my girlfriend and our friends hanging out, eating and drinking in front of the tv on a daily basis.
Does anyone here have any ideas for an affordable, but nice & modern looking sofa? By affordable I mean in the $2000-3000 / 1000-1500 euro price range and preferably available in Europe since I live in Sweden.
When it comes to Mid-Century sofas I like the styles of Florence Knoll, Edward Wormley, Vladimir Kagan, George Nelson, Ib Kofoed-Larsen, Hans Wegner, etc.
My problem with many contemporary sofas are that they are so big or even 'fat' looking. They are too deep, too wide, etc etc.
I'm generally not interested in buying knock-off's of a famous design either. I would rather have a anonymous no-name product, than a fake. (Although, I would consider some Modernica products if they would have been available in Europe at an affordable price...)
Does anyone have any good ideas?
Doesn't Sweden have thrift shops?
At your price range, second-hand's the answer. (The prospect of thrifting in Sweden seems like a modern-design hound's DREAM, to me!)
The trick is to habitually hit your local thrift shops daily, until you find something to your liking-- treasures don't sit around gathering dust.
Can you sew? Upholstering is pretty easy (take a book out of the library, for tips), easier still if you find something with simple box-cushions that you could bring to a seamstress to replicate in a new fabric.
I meant $1000-3000 of...
I meant $1000-3000 of course...
I got confused since I wanted to give an estimate in both USD and Euro's... My original post is now corrected.
Yes, I'm looking also in thrift stores and vintage stores, but it is quite hard to find anything good. You can find danish daybeds and sofas quite easily, but they often need to be recovered completely and in Sweden that is extremely expensive. My uncle spent 4000 euro to recover an old sofa recently... That said, I'm definitely looking for vintage sofas as well.
Hmmm, that Robin Day sofa is in the right direction (although I would never go for leather myself). I wonder if Habitat do mail order?
Those zeros make all the difference.
The cost of having something reupholstered can vary WILDLY, depending on how much legwork you're willing to do.
Before I knew any better, I randomly phoned furniture reupholsters for quotes on reupholstering a simple Danish sofa, composed of four box cushions-- I think the lowest quote I got was $1,700, fabric not included. Taking those same four cushion covers (sans foam) to a seamstress along with several yards of new fabric, for her to duplicate, cost a couple hundred dollars.
"(Although, I would consider...
"(Although, I would consider some Modernica products if they would have been available in Europe at an affordable price...) "
SCP in London are an (the only ?) agent for Modernica products in England so might be worth a call in that's what you really want...........
http://www.scp.co.uk
Neo by Bendtsen
I just got the Neo by Niel Bendsten - love it! Its firm, but comfortable. I had to go with a 2 seater because of space constraints -but when you remove the back cushions the seat cushions are deep enough for very comfortable sleeping. The thing I like best about it is that it's fairly anonymous in a setting, so it doesnt detract from my Eames chairs, or my artwork. My cat seems to love it too, which is proving to be troublesome. The nubbly fabric makes for great scratching I guess.
I got mine as a floor sale from DWR in the States. I dunno if anyone retails it in Europe - but if so I highly recommend it!
-Heath, -very nice Olesen...
-Heath, -very nice Olesen sofa...
The Neo is pretty nice too I have to admit. It looks a lot like two scandinavian sofas I have been looking at as well, the Swedish Ihreborn 'Cool' (really bad name for a sofa...) and the Danish Ire 'Infini Grande'. I will try to post images later.
Still, it is something about these sofas that disturb me. They are somehow too bulky and overstuffed in my opinion. It seems nowadays every 3-seat sofa has only two big seat cushions and also the armrests isn't in proportion to the rest of the design.
One of the nicest so far though...
Bendtsen
Bendtsen got his start importing Scandinavian furniture - which supposedly influenced his later designs. The photo of the two seater is weird - I pulled if off the web. In person it looks much less imposing and clunky.
Due to all the colleges in my area, combined with eruptions of bedbugs infestations, the department of public health has issued a bunch of warnings about buying secondhand sofas/chairs/mattresses. The mere thought was enough to drive me from the thrift shops! I'm happy with anything solid surfaced: wood, plastic, metal etc. Secondhand upholstery skeeves me out.
Niels Bendtsen
I have been to Mr. Bendtsen's store in Vancouver, I found it interesting that the sales person told me that Niels 'designed' the Neo series ten years ago to provide a lower priced option to Citterios's nearly identical Charles Sofa for B&B Italia - which the store was selling as well...
I looked at other Bendtsen designs, his 'Pool' Table is a verbatim copy of Marcel Wanders Smoke table for Cappellini...and his 'Cube' tables are identical to Kjaerholm's PK71 tables...
Hmmm
Though I would agree with you on the Cube tables, the Neo Sofa doesn't look anything like the Charles, to me at least. They actually look very different. Charles' arms are sloped on the inside. Also on the Charles, the seat is one long single cushion, and the back cushions are loose. Legs are different too.
Maybe not nearly identical, I actually think they are really very different.
First the Neo, then the Charles:
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