Saarinen Grasshopper  

Knoll ??
maybe if Knoll pulled their head out of their arse and stopped making child sized versions of the womb chair and barcelona chair maybe they could direct some time and energy into putting the Grasshopper back into production.

I wouldn't want a new one...
I wouldn't want a new one even if they did. It would probably be in the $4000-5000 range new. I'm of the mind to buy vintage when possible anyway.

lunch box hows the new ...
lunch box hows the new chair doing

Sore subject, LRF...
Apparently, the fellow wasn't actually interested in selling it at that price...

Don't look now...
but I was just looking through the preview of Wright's next auction and they have one...if you're dealing with Wright-Auction-level-cash...

I'm willing to pay what's deemed a fair price...
But whether it were $1000 or $3000, I'd not feel good about it either way without a bit of reinforcement about the stability of the design.

Probably a bit off base...
I guess I should say stability of the vintage construction rather than the stability of the design. After all, I've sat in Modernica editions which felt like upholstered tanks...

One in Boston
Lunchbox - there's one in the Boston area for about 2k. Let me know if you're interested. ResideInc.com
I'm not the seller, but I can they are VERY good.
Incidentally - the Grasshopper feels much more like an Aalto piece than a Saarinen.

Thanks, Lucifer...
As you can probably tell, I'm still pretty iffy about buying a vintage one. I'm especially frightened of buying one sight unseen without at least getting a feel for sturdiness. As for the Aalto comment, I can certainly see that. But the chair is so streamlined. There's an elegance about it that is very much Saarinen.

I have a real vintage one
It got on eBay about 5 years ago and it was covered in a white raw silk with vertical piping in the fabric. Not my choice in fabric.
When I sat down on it, it seemed to not be right and made a creaking sound. Not good.
I got my friend David who owns Remnants, a great upholstering business here in town, and he opened up the chair and discovered that the wood frame has been poorly repaired. He sacrified the rather mediocre fabric, fixed the frame issue and recovered it in fabric I chose.
I understand that the Modernica version is better made with a stronger inner frame.
it's a comfortable, beautiful chair and is a very fair alternative to the Eames Lounge chair and ottoman!

I was waiting for you, barry...
You've obviously got a good connection for upholstery. But say I were to buy one and the unthinkable were to happen, what would I be looking at spending to fix it presumably?

I think I paid around $400.00
to get it repaired and recovered. It was very labor intensive.
But it was the first major upholstered piece I got (before I bought my current house).

Oh, and I won the chair on eBay for less than $400.00
and when I needed it recovered, I found the fabric on eBay too. After doing some research, I found it on the "buy it now" section.

You did very well, barry...
I would figure reupholstering this chair would take someone with a very clever hand. Don't think I'd be confident in driving it down the street to 'Bobby's Upholstery & More'... I don't know. The more I think about it, the more I'm balking at paying market for one.