I recently bought 12 really worn Bertoia side chairs in Helsinki. The seller claimed that the chairs had been specially ordered to the their family´s restaurant Toolonranta which was built in Helsinki in 1950-1951. The seller even claimed that he came to the restaurant himself to install them in the setting. The chairs differ somewhat from the ones sold today but there is not doubt that they are Bertoia´s. Could anyone shed any light on the subject? Did Bertoia visit Finland early in his furniture career.
Bertoia chairs were licensed...
...by the Finnish company Billnäs (distributed by Artek) in the late 50's/early 60's and I've noticed some minor differences, at least if compared to the current Knoll stuff (the joints of the base, also the wire they used seems to be somewhat thinner)...
From what I've understood the...
From what I've understood these chairs were introduced by Knoll in 1952, so you're suggesting that the chairs in question might actually be pre production pieces/prototypes? Possible? Yes. Likely? Umm, no - but who knows...anyway, I've run across two different versions of these vintage Bertoias in Finland - both in person and in the older Finnish literature...these chairs were common in many cafes & restaurants in Helsinki in the 50/60's and Artek was the distributor for the original Knoll pieces and also for the models licensed by Billnäs (besides the Bertoias, at least a small run of Barcelona chairs & Florence Knoll furniture were produced for a short period of time). That said, the bases on your chair and mine (vintage, supposedly by Billnäs), are not quite alike...
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