.
Don't often have things to say about Eames, not really my territory but I can't understand the enthusiasm for the lounge chair given how expensive and fragile they are, from whats mentioned on here the things are constantly breaking and only have a 3 year warranty, doesn't inspire confidence.
I have sat in a few and in a few of these, I find the highbacked aluminium chair much more comfortable and flexible, and at I think about 1500.00 bucks not a bad price either.
if you are not in a hurry.....
seek out a used/vintage herman miller ELO it might take you 6 months, but it will be fun and rewarding. go to 2nd hand stores, estate sales, craigslist, put out ads... beat the bushes, tell everyone you know you are looking for one.
eventually you will find one you can afford.
er, never mind..... just noticed this thread is 2 years old !
The best eames lounge chair I have ever seen
I was very interested in getting the vitra or Herman miller eames lounge chair and ottoman, however I just can't justify spending usd4500 for them. I was on a quest to find the best one there is. After many years (about 3) of research, and buying from all these online retailers which always left me disappointed. I decided that enough is enough. I should just give up. Until I pondered upon 2 websites that sell them. One in UK and one in USA. Since I live here. it just make sense to get them locally. So i decided to order one and boy am I thrilled when it arrived yesterday. It looks exactly like the original one. Sits and feel like it too. I paid $1600 for it but it is worth every penny. I ordered one in brushed aluminum vitra base because I wanted to be different from the generic HM version. Finally I got to enjoy this chair in the comfort of my own home. Now my problem is I do not know if I should look at it or sit on it. I am furnishing a lobby and this chair is high on my list.
Eames Replica
In the 1980's Alivar,at the time a subsidiary of Matrix Srl. introduced a reproduction of the Eames chair which was an exact copy of a chair which had been produced by Herman Miller in 1958. The copy was made for the European market because the models produced by both Vitra in Switzerland and ICF in Milan (once a Herman Miller and Vitra licensee)were both using the base from the Aluminum Group rather than the original base that was originally produced for the Eames Lounge. Moreover, both the Vitra model as well as the ICF version frequently broke at the point where the arms were attached to the plywood seat. Vitra at a certain point began to run bolts through the shell which was visible under the. This beakage was caused by a ply separation. The pressure that was exerted by the oval rubber pad glued to the seat pulled away a piece of the outermost layer of the wooden ply to which it was attached. Matrix had solved this problem by reinforcing that area of the plywood shell by inserting a series of tiny stainless steel screws which managed to solidly bind together all of the inner layers of the plywood shell. This corrected chair which was manufactured by Alivar (when it was owned by Matrix)continues to be produced by Matrix International now located in the town of Poggibonsi. Like all of the products of this relatively small and highly specialized company which deals mainly with architects rather than the general public, this chair is hand finished and the shell is carefully veneered with exotic woods from South America and the Far East which are not normaly available in the USA. I don't know the current price of this chair but I would imagine that it must be competitive with the so-called originals. You can ask them who distributes this chair in the USA.
Hi Nilo, thanks for the infor...
Hi Nilo, thanks for the information. For a long time I couldn't figure out who the manufacture was for my repro. It's so close to the original Herman Miller version, except for the following:
1: underneath the shock mounts (after removing the failed old ones), there're little screws reinforcing the layers of plywood.
2: the glides on both the chair and ottoman look different than the HM original.
3: the veneers are nothing like rosewood, walnut, or cherry.
All the above features fit pretty closely to your description. So maybe mine was a Matrix International as well. Oh, one more thing, in fact, the leather on my copy was even BETTER than the HM kind; thicker, softer, and very nice to the touch.
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