Eames Lounge Chair: Worth it?  

the grasshopper chair is...
the grasshopper chair is great on the back. it makes you sit properly and is very comfortable.

to get back
to the original question. yes, absolutely.
the chair is worth it if you can afford it. it is an absolute pleasure and an absolute luxury. to me it's the most pleasurable piece of furniture to own. however, it's still not worth having over groceries and lights 🙂

The Eames lounge
If you can afford it, go for it! The eames lounge chair and otto, manufactured by Herman Miller, is really comfortable. I tried a knockoff at Scan Furniture in Falls Church, VA, and it was NOT comfortable at all, and yet it was still expensive.
But I also like the womb chair. Olive recently purchased one for reading. Perhaps she can provide some insight on that chair, because I, too, am debating
whether to go with the eames lounge or the womb chair.

Knoll Annual Sale
The Womb Chair is about to go on sale at 44% off list, May 5th through 12th, through Knoll's annual spring sale. For those interested!
http://www.mid-century-modern.com

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I was thinking about the womb chair today and was wondering - is it ever upholstered in leather? is that unheard of? it seems like the right leather and it would age gracefully and get more comfortable. Opinions please.

Eames Aluminium
Have you considered the Eames high back aluminium swivel/tilt lounge chair. It's VERY comfortable.

Grasshopper Chair
I was lucky enough to bid on and win a genuine Saarinen Grasshopper chair and ottoman on eBay about 2 years ago.
It had been recovered in a off-white nude silk with vertical piping sometime ago.
I got it and immediately fell in love with it. BUT....when I sit down in it, it make a creaking sound, and it looked a bit off kilter, so i had a friend in town who does mid-century modern upholstery (Remnants in Minneapolis) take a look at it, and he agreed that there was something wrong with the frame.
He said that the fabric would not be savable, if he opened up the chair, so, considering that it was not original, and I didn't much care for the color, I said go ahead.
I'm telling you all this, because when Saarinen designed this first project for Knoll, he had wanted to use fiberglass, but it wasn't available yet at this time (1946/7). The frame is all wood and was always prone to separation at the joints, which turns out to be the problem with mine.
At the time the chair was recovered, a large staple was put in to fix it, but that didn't hold over time.
I selected a really cool period styled fabric and David repaired the joint and I consider it one of the most comfortable loungue chairs of the era.
Now....Modernica has reissued the chair iteself, and when I enquired about any design differences, they said that the joint problems have been solved with the stronger wood frame constuction. So...you could get it from them, but they do NOT make the ottoman.
So...finding an original loungue chair and ottoman is not easy, and as stated above, the frame on the original can be problematic.
(Wish I knew how to post a photograph of it....)

DWR
Design within reach has the Womb chair in leather. Although you wold buy a Womb and Eames lounge for the price.

DWR's expensive
Design Within Reach and Room And Board are two of the most expensive stores/websites that sell Herman Miller and Knoll stuff.
I'd buy it from Hive (hivemodern.com), Retromodern (Retromodern.com), Home Office Solutions (homeofficesolutions.com) or Highbrow Furniture (highbrowfurniture.com).
None of these website charge tax, unless you live in the state where they're located. Also, they usually don't charge for shipping.

All the prices are the same
Herman Miller and Knoll control the prices of their furniture no matter where it's being sold. The price will be the same at any store - if you're getting a cheaper price its gonna be a knock-off.

OX
what're opinions on the OX chair by Wegner? Does it just look amazing or is it as comfortable as it looks?

LuciferSum
once again i must agree with Lucifersum ,
they do have a tight control on their salesforce and they monitor the Internet sellers very closely , Most of the stores are a coop of company owned with the Vendor.
We as designers and Architects have a special price from the company as they want us to put their furniture in our offices and showrooms,

Tax & Shipping
Tax and shipping is a big saving when you are buying expensive and large. I suggested DWR so you could see what one looked like in leather. Highbrow is my favorite and we ordered all our suff from them. We purchased our Eames lounge and never looked back.

QUOTE
"Modernica has reissued the chair iteself, and when I enquired about any design differences, they said that the joint problems have been solved with the stronger wood frame constuction. So...you could get it from them, but they do NOT make the ottoman."
Modernica DOES make the ottoman.

Womb back pillow
Sorry, skipping back to the Womb back pillow. I have a womb chair that was reupholstered before I bought it. It's great, but the back pillow is very uncomfortable - it feels like it has too much foam in it (and too hard). Do you think it has just been overstuffed at time of reupholstery or is it supposed to be like that? Anyone know what thickness an original cushion is?
Thanks!