Pegboard, if you don't mind,...
Pegboard, if you don't mind, could you email me the name of the upholsterer in Chicago. I'm at my username here, followed by the thing that looks like an "a" with a curved tail, followed by gmail.com.
Aside from loving the brown/caramel upholstery on these chairs, I have been struck by the fact that they often bring a higher price than when upholstered in black. Clearly there are other variables at play, but take a look at the link from Wright below....it's an interesting phenomenon.
http://www.wright20.com/search/jacobsen_egg/0
Economics of re-upholster
I was interested in what the cost would be to re-upholster the egg chair. I looked into this a few years back. At that time, a leather egg was selling for roughly $6k. An upholstered egg chair was roughly $3k. To re-upholster the egg in leather was roughly $2k.
It was basically a wash to either buy a chair and re-upholster it or just buy the chair in leather.
Thoughts?
"It was basically a wash".
It's to be expected that a leather chair in a desirable color would cost almost exactly as much at auction as a fabric chair plus leather reupholstery; that's just basic economics, and it's why you'll never get a good deal by buying a chair with decent fabric upholstery and reupholstering it in leather.
Here's the thing: If a chair's upholstery is trashed, the difference in price between leather and fabric no longer applies. It doesn't matter whether the unusable upholstery is leather or fabric; either way, the chair will sell for the cost of a good fabric chair minus the cost of fabric reupholstery, NOT for the much higher cost of a good leather chair minus the cost of leather reupholstery.
So for the most bang for your buck, find a structurally-good Egg with horribly damaged leather or fabric upholstery, then reupholster it in leather.
Sorensen leather thoughts?
Hi folks,
I'm thrilled to have found this thread. I recently received a sample of the Sorensen "vegetal" leather which seems to be a a vegetable tanned, undyed leather (with an aniline finish?). I have the swatch on the window sill and I'll be watching to see the color change over the next few weeks.
I'm hoping that it patinas quickly the way a natural, vegetable-tanned belt does. Time will tell and I'll report back. My plan is to have my FH Swan Chair redone at the shop in PA. If anyone else has experience with the Sorensen Vegetal, I'd be very interested to know how quickly it patinas and how it feels on the chair.
The hide plus shipping from Denmark was quoted by Sorensen at something like $800...ouch. Therefore, I also have some more reasonable "naked" Spinneybeck swatches on the window sill and am going to track down some generic vegetal samples to compare the quality, thickness and patina. The above discussion about thickness of the hide has me a bit concerned. I guess that if FH has chosen the slightly thicker hides as their standard, I may go that route as well.
Thanks for any comments or advice.
Err...not really.
That photo in the FAIL thread is ridiculous. I'm not going to rivit the leather to the chair for goodness sake. In my opinion, pull-up leather is too "restoration hardware." Natural leather is as basic as it gets. If the upholstery choice is available OEM, I can't see how it is a FAIL.
I received samples of the Ran...
I received samples of the Range Aniline (Cognac) and Elegance (Walnut) leathers from Sorensen about a month or so ago. I do not think either has aged changed much.....but both are beautiful leathers. The Elegence has a fuller more pronounced grain and the Range Aniline a smoother look. Whatever you choose, make sure you get samples. Its nearly impossible to tell what leather really looks like from a picture on the net
Natural becomes cognac
If you want the chair to become genuinely cognac you should choose full grain natural undied leather with an open structure. This is exactly the leather these old museum examples were upholstered with. Even after a few months you will see the colour changing. Sunlight enhances this process. I received a few leather samples a while ago and the aging of the natural one is already obvious.
Mind you natural leather is very hard to maintain well and spots are impossible to clean. On the other hand what is more beautifull than an old patinated cognac egg with old spots?
late to the game
I've just stumbled upon your discussions about re-upholstering an egg chair. I have a fabric one from DWR and had I known the difficulty I was going to have keeping that fabric clean, I would have thought twice. Must say, 4 cats, few kids, lots of friends....the cat hair is a horror. It sticks into the wool. I live with our Dyson vacuum trying to suck up the hair. no go. I dream of re-upholstering....but feel like the value will be gone. Good to know there's someone in PA....anyone have an address?
Have been looking at...
Have been looking at leathers and considering this now for over a year. Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered Cognac Range Aniline hides from Sorensen in Denmark. My chair and ottoman are also being picked up today or tomorrow to go to the upholsterer. Very excited to finally have the project underway.
Similar predicament
I'm in a similar predicament to the OP with a pair of vintage swans. The upholstery was terribly redone (with added button tufts!) and the foam has completely disintegrated.
I'm planning on getting them redone. There are upholsterers around who have given me quotes, and although they are familiar with mid-century/vintage/Danish, they have not done a swan chair.
I'm curious as to what type of foam would/should be used. Is it a special molded foam, or is it just sheet foam properly applied and cut? I've contacted Fritz Hansen a couple times with no response, so I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light.
I'll probably have both professionally redone, but I'm also toying with the idea of trying my hand at the upholstery end of it. Any personal experiences?
A lot of questions I know..one more: I've looked at some new Swan chairs, and I noticed they have three seams on the outside of the shell (one at the front of the seat, two at the narrow 'waist'), and I've seen some with no seams.
Is there proper way to do it?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Latex foam! Polyfoam will...
Latex foam! Polyfoam will degrade a lot sooner (though in a different way than latex).
I don't know about the seaming but I would guess that yours have tufting because the upholsterer didn't glue the fabric to the foam. That's something that isn't done in conventional upholstering but it is the only way to get fabric to lay against the curves in a chair like this.
Have you upholstered before? This isn't exactly a beginner's project.
This is a difficult chair as...
This is a difficult chair as it needs to be hand sewn, Fritz Hansen
started using a metal mesh on the top and now uses a top seam
all the way around on the new chairs,
The old style eggs you can not use a top seam cause you cannot tack into the fiberglass. All good upholstery people know what kind of foam to use when re foaming the chair. you need to use a good fabric with stretch like Kvadrat hallingdale. The job should cost between $550.00 and $700.00 per chair, but if you have original chairs this is nothing as they are now $3500.00 per chair.
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