I am very interested in finding out some information on the construction of w.w.2 period furniture in Italy.I have this chair which I believe to be Italian in origin ,and I recently stripped of the old material before taking it in for upholstery.When I had done this there was revealed under the horse hair multi colored straps.These straps seemed unusual to me they had a date of 1943 plus a patent number so I ran the patent number.They turned out to be the belts used to feed bullets into a machine gun.So my question is was this a common practice during this period ,and if so was there any manufacturers this was particular to.
Jens Risom
I don't know about the Italians but Danish American designer Jens Risom 1941-1942 used one of the few available wartime materials - surplus army webbing to create a chair for Hans Knoll. The chair was such a success it was gobbled up for the use in USO lounges and waiting rooms and was one of Knolls first big successes.
This is interesting.
Thanks for your replies I don't think the chair is Risom though.I still believe is Italian the construction is different than most Danish stuff I've come across ,but you never know.I am not an expert by any means.However I haven't taken it in for upholstery yet ,so here is a couple of pics that may be of some assistance.
i am somewhat stumped
In my expert opion and some say that is not worth a dime......
That chair borderlines on both the danish and the Italian ,
I can see a little Hans Wagner but mostly I see a Florenza chair by Franco Albine around made around 1953
the only thing that really stumps me is the heaviness of your chair Wagner with the Danish modern was trying to get more streamline and lighter as well as the Italians. The American Traditional designers working for Baker, Widdicom,and Henredon during that period were not afraid to do their own thing and there furniture was very heavy,
now i am staying up late
The thing that is really throwing me off is the legs could they have been changed ?
I have seen a lot of furnishings designed for the Minola House in Turin That was produced at the height of the war, At that time skilled craftsmanship compensated for the dearth of quality materials and Carlo Mollino did a lot of stuff for minola House but the legs are wrong on that chair for a Mollino.
This is becoming more interesting.
I don't really know if the legs were changed if they were the job was done well.I purchased this chair along with two other Italian chairs ,and the one is an odd reclining which was attributed to Molino (I can have pics of that one next week when it is returned to me).The other was a Parisi for Cassina.However; on this one I am really stumped.I still find it pretty neat about the ammo straps though puts a time frame on it I think.I can tell the chairs been reupholstered more then once though.
you darn tooten it does.....
you darn tooten it does....
If you did get the other 2 chairs like you said, they are the Zenith of Italian designers , i have a feeling that this one is good too, It is a known fact that Italians could not get good materials during the war, Thats what happens when you back the wrong horse,
but us Americans were having a tough time also,
Please post the new chairs when you get them redone as you may know or even if you don't everyone else who reads this forum knows that one of the companies that i own is RetroRedo.com
and we recover all rare and modern chairs so i am intrigued at what you have ,
Thanks for your help.
Thanks again for your help.Unfortunately I do not live in the U.S. ,and I think the shipping to you would probably be insane. Otherwise I would take you up on your upholstery work.I saw your site ,and it looks like you do nice work.There is something you may be able to help me with though.On another one of these Italian chair two brass feet are missing on the legs.Being in the upholstery business you may have a lead as where I could find suitable replacements.I will include a photo.As far as the other chairs I will post photos next week.
that would be expensive to...
that would be expensive to ship a big chair overseas, but for some reason people ship the Eames Bucket chairs to us from all over the world, I guess we do a good job, and they can find any one in Africa were we got one shipped from last year,
On your chair foot .... I have no idea
but if i needed several I would take it to a metal shop and have them reproduce it in a nice metal that would look great,
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com