Also known simply as the Risom Lounge.
So, lightning struck twice! From the same magical dumpster that gave me an Eye Clock, I received a Risom lounge!!
So, not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it has two issues. First, the frame is very broken, which is likely why it was trashed. I think I can fix that part of it with some gluing and some clamping, and possibly adding a steel plate for reinforcment, and some screws which will be hidden under the webbing.
Which brings me to my second issue. The webbing color: I dont like it. It's almost the same color as the wood...but not quite. It reads very sallow in my living room. So, being that the chair was free I was thinking I might splurge and reupholster the thing.
Architonic has two examples of this chair in leather, but everything else I've seen has been webbing. I'm not familiar enough with Risom to know if leather was an original option. If it was are there any suggestions as to what kind of leather to use? Or if not leather, what color webbing?
I've got a taupe couch, a grey rug, and a black Eames lounge. I want to avoid red because my livingroom will start to look like a DWR showroom. Black also seems a little heavy so what else?
pictures are:
same color as mine
vintage with leather via architonic.
I should probably mention
But how will the gold adhere to the fabric? 🙂
I should probably mention that in addition to me (a male) I have two male roommates and cat. White is just begging for grape jelly or ketchup or any host of other spills.
Also - floors are oak, rug is an area rug.
Tabby
Cat is white and tabby - but he doesnt really get up on the furniture much. Its been so hot lately that we keep finding him lounging in the bathtub - the porcelain keeps him cool.
Area rug is light grey & dark grey. Nelson ball & eye clock are in the same room. Would it be crazy to have an orange Risom lounge? Or is orange too fleeting a color? One interesting thing I've seen at a local caning shop is a chair webbed in alternating black & red.
Ugg.. I'm great at dishing out advice for other people but I absolutely collapse when it comes to my own spaces lol.
Also - no word yet on whether leather was an upholstery option on the originals, or an afer-market thing. Anyone have old Knoll catalogs or know a good resource for Risom?
Resource books
I've got the 1964 and the 1965 volumes of "Furniture Forum" put out by NOFA (which I think is the National Office Furniture Association) that has some info on some Jens Risom pieces. Today is Thursday and the books are up at my other house where I'm not going to be until next Monday but I will look at them then and try to answer you r.e. original specs.
These books are quite a nice resource. Apparently, at the office furniture market every year, they would take pictures of all of the exhibitors' showrooms and new pieces in their various lines and every exhibitor got a 2 or 4 page layout in the subsequent book. In each volume, there are about 50 exhibitors of furniture, 10 of lighting and 8 of rugs. In addition, the first 10 or 12 pages of each book highlights the special exhibit located at the front of the market. In one of the books, the special exhibit is called "Denmark Design" and the US manufacturers invited their counterparts from Denmark who outfitted an entire building with their furniture and lighting, rugs, tableware, etc. Even though the pictures are not in color, this Danish pavilion looks incredible.
Anyway, thoughout the book, it gives specs for each piece of furniture, including designer, fabrications, etc. so I'll look up your chair. They may be way before 1964, tho, do you know what year he did that chair?
Secret Dumpster
The exact location of the dumpster shall remain secret! Lest someone else search it out and wait...
And anyway, it's enclosed in the building I work in - not accessible to anyone off the street. There are at least two, if not three architecture firms in the building, along with a design firm and some random bunch of technology firms...its basically every building in Cambridge that isn't Harvard, lol.
According to Knoll's website the chair was one of the first designs Knoll commissioned and produced - in 1941. Risom's own website has some catalog pages on it, but they are very small and none of them have the Vostra on it. 🙁
This is
the one design in Risom's portfolio that I just don't understand: Why oh why would he make the rear leg so awkwardly withdrawn ? It reminds me of a lame dog -- and seems ready to tip over backward with any amount of encouragement. I swear that if I owned one I would be sorely tempted to correct this flaw with a new pair of rear legs !
Nevertheless, I'm very glad you scored this one, and saved it from an untimely demise. Will you attempt the re-covering yourself ?
My first furniture restoration project, as a young teen, was a folding aluminum-tube lounge that had basket-weave plastic webbing needing replacement. I still recall my attempts to sand the pitted aluminum frame, before applying new webbing. I suppose I fantasized that my generic patio lound (found at the town dump) was somehow related to the Bauhaus masters. . .!
The rear legs make you queasy? Hmm.
I've heard this complaint somewhere before, but I'm perfectly comfortable with the back legs. To my eye, the chair seems balanced and stable.
(Funny how people have different notions of balance-- I like my book spines lined up like soldiers about a half inch from a shelf's edge. A woman I used to work with compulsively pushed them in as far as they'd go. When I asked her why, she said it made her nervous to see them close to the edge-- "they look as if they're about to fall off". I guess she had a poor grasp on the concept of gravity, or she thought books inclined to lunge unpredictably like toddlers or untethered dogs!)
I've seen
I've seen the checkerboard pattern before and I kind of like it. I just wonder if it would draw too much attention. Altho, there are these two beautiful webbed chairs at the local cane shop that are webbed in alternating black and red. The roommates kind of like the idea of a color, and that would mitigate the standard "Red" you see everywhere.
Or maybe two subtler colors. The brochure on Knolls website says: Replacement straps available, must be upholstered by a professional. Then lists colors as: Black, Dk Grey, Navy, Steel Blue, Forest Gn, Khaki, Aubergine, Red, Maize, Flax. I think flax is whats on there.
I'd probably let a pro do it - the stapling looks fairly easy, but getting the weave to be even and 'just right' in terms of support probably isn't.
WHC
Hillarious! I had a great image of books clawing their way off the shelves like lemmings 😀
So I glued up and clamped the frame tonight. I'm SO confused as to how it got broken. When the leg was on it didn't really seem to push against the break in the frame. The mortise & tenon split the wood into three pieces, but how is just beyond me.
I used a screw driver to open up the cracks a little bit, then moistened it all, then used a fine paintbrush to brush gorilla glue across all surfaces, including the mortise & tenon. Then I clamped it up as shown. Looks very sad - like a dog with three legs. I'm going to let it cure for a few days and see what happens. I'm guessing it is going to need either a steel plate to reinforce or some screws sunk through the frame. We'll see. I'm hoping whatever I need to do can be hidden under the strapping.
http://flickr.com/photos/38178174@N00/2705199076/
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