I just r edid 10 of these chairs for a architects office .. Cause I did not
have enough of the Vintage Herman Miller Bucket chairs. I stepped out and bought the shells from Modernica all dark grey fiberglass .
I must say the client loved them.
I was a little disapointed in the shell part that had to be recovered
it seemed like they did not spend enough time polishing the buckets and the fact that we had to put fabric on it was just perfect.This fabric is eames small dot in black and grey and Vicoona (very expensive ) anyone ever buy buckets from Modernica the back sides are great cause they do have a lot of fiberglass that is grassey and they look cool, what do you think .
I saw some Modernica shells
at a local store, and was excited to finally see them in the flesh. However, I thought they looked very obviously and visibly like injection-molded plastic, with a weird, nubbly texture, and a lack of sheen. All wrong compared to the real thing, no fiberglas texture, all one solid color. I was dissappointed.
MODERNICA Bucket chairs
You described it better than i did!!
for some reason the shell seat does lack a good polishing, like the old Herman Millers .
I was lucky since i was putting fabric on them and the back sides did look so good . I personaly would be upset if I had just ordered a bare shell cause that would be somewhat disapointing. compared to the originals
Dont forget
Dont forget that the originals have had between 10 and 60 years of being butt polished to a high shine. I have a vintage shell that was in a box for the past 20 years and it looks very similar to the Modernica shells. The finish is not as glossy as some of my other vintage shells. And even the newer versions from Modernica are better than the polypropelene chairs being produced by Vitra these days.
Incidentally - on the old Modernica website they listed the charcoal as being NOS from Herman Miller. I dont know if thats still the case.
I love what you say about ...
I love what you say about the butt shine that would make the difference
What does NOS mean? I have about 20 Herman Miller buckets all colors at the shop and about 30 side shells The early ones from Venise Calf seem to be better looking than the ones made in Zeeland they seem to have more grassy fiberglass for some reason maybe it is this charcoal color that did not impress me I wonder what some of the other colors look like. and remember as soon as they come my way i am only really concerned that the back side looks great cause the center will have either fabric or vinyl on them...
Clarification
NOS = New Old Stock. Meaning, that the chair I have was created in 1992 - I think the last year of production of the fiberglass chairs by Herman Miller -but my chair never went into circulation. It was boxed up and shelved in a warehouse.
Also remember that in the earlier productions of the fiberglass chairs the fiber was done by hand, and the structure of the chairs was thinner. There was much more translucency to the material. Breakage caused the design to be modified and made thicker in weak areas. Plus, various new colors were introduced over time, which affected the translucency.
Gordran
Is it possible you saw the new Vitra versions of the chairs, rather than the Modernica versions?
The Vitra chairs are indeed injection molded polypropelene, and the texture and color is a far cry from the original fiberglass models. The Modernica chairs are much closer, but still not as polished as some of the vintage ones.
MODERNICA Bucket chairs
Modernica indeed does have a bunrt in emblom that says Modernica L.A . Don't you think for one second that crew would pass up a chance to have there name on a Icon like a Eames Bucket chair. They would do any thing they can to impress you that they are the only ones making those chairs.
teehee
i have a shell chair in celery. it's not shiny, but i think it looks quite nice. i noted some hairline cracks on the edges of the underside and they sent a replacement which wasn't much better. so i guess it's a fault of the fabrication process. overall, i was satisfied with their product and service. just make sure you wipe off the fiberglass dust before sitting in it.
new colors
i just got an email from DWR The eames buckests now come in 5 colors Black Red Grey white lime yellow and bight green that to me looks like a robins egg blue also they are now offering something that the Eames never thought of a chair chusion for 65.00 The cost of one chair is $345.00 and 65.00 for the cushion .The chairs sold in 1952 for 19.00 a chair with the H base and in fiberglass .
You do the math and see how much they have gone up since 1952 when Herman Miller was selling them to Hospitals, Universities,Airports, and Libraries ,
Thanks Lucifersum /chair pad
Slap my fanny and call me Judy !!!! . I have recoverd over two hundred Eames buckets (yes we keep count) and never ever have we ever had a request for a chair cushion , This will open a whole new product line for us....yea .... I don't know why know one has ever requested a neat looking Girard cushion for that chair we could wip that one up in about an hour. thanks once again Lucifersum you are a walking Gooooogle
If you need any help, please contact us at – info@designaddict.com