Steel & leather chair Id?  

bump. any thoughts?
bump. any thoughts?

Suekichi Uchida
Suekichi Uchida

Not quite right.
Doesn't look quite right. There are some noticeable differences between the Uchida piece and the chair above. First of all, there is no wood on the arms, which would be simple enough as it could just be missing. Secondly, the angle of the headrest is much more pronounced and bends forward at a different angle on the Uchida version. Thirdly, the Uchida chair has a bit of fabric cutout below the bend at the headrest, which exposes the chrome frame.

The market seems very...
The market seems very confused with respect to Nii and Uchida. I see the Nii NY chair with wooden arms being attributed to Uchida all over the place -- here's the original patent:
http://www.google.com/patents/USD265444?dq=Nii+chair&ei=bHXqTr_eDKf9iQKf...
Uchida's patented designs are similar to the one we found, but I can't find an exact match. It could be that it's simply not patented in the US.

update image
After applying multiple coats of saddlesoap, the chair has cleaned up beautifully. The image isn't the best, but the patina is gorgeous. Still not certain on an ID -- any one recognize this? Uchida still seems like the best guess given the similarity in lines.

I just
sold a Nii chair. IT sits quite a bit lower, but they are vry very similar

Check out
Check out Max Gottschalk.. We currently have a chair of his and although it is a different style it does have the same materials and look. Most of his work will be burnt into the leather but maybe unsigned? Does the material like re-used at all???????

@IzzeJ -- no sign of a...
@IzzeJ -- no sign of a burned in mark anywhere. The leather does not appear to be reused. Gottschalk is an interesting theory - I can't find anything that seems close though.

Leather chair cleanup
Just found your post from last year. I just found two these chairs and even though they were in super condition I decided to see if I could improve.
I saddle soaped one and am now sorry as it looked better before. It darkened the leather a bit unevenly. You mentioned you soaped númerous times. Did you wait between applications? On the second chair I used Meltonan leather conditioner and it seemed a much nicer finished item. Bit nervous about approaching the first chair again with saddle soap.
Any thoughts?

Did anyone come to a conclusi...
Did anyone come to a conclusion who the designer was to this chair? I have one I purchased off of CL 5 years ago in LA.

cost?
Do you recall what you paid for the chair? I'm having no luck researching this chair other than a 'sold' one on '1stDibs'and because it was sold I have no way of knowing what it went for.
Thanks for any help...