Hi all, there was an interesting thread regarding what was the best buy/find ever. I am interested to hear are there any purchases that people regret. Or after purchasing the item, wondered what all the fuss was about. I will start the ball rolling... Vico Magistretti Maui chair, only because it broke pretty much one week after the warranty expired 🙁
Futon chair frame
it held a twin sized futon. The style was mindless but fine for my office as an emergency overflow crash point. A rather zaftig friend destroyed it one night after a bit too much whiskey and poker. And it was the first time it had ever been used! We burnt it as a ceremonious lesson that cheap is never a good idea.
Bertoia Diamond chair
I got a Bertoia Diamond chair with original vinyl cover at auction for about $140. I foolishly neglected to look under the cover so I didn't see the four or five broken wires and another two or three that were badly repaired.
The cover was in very poor condition but I thought I could use it as a pattern to make a new one. Ha! I think they were made on molded forms or something. I could not figure out how to fit fabric to that chair and I've done a lot of upholstery.
Plus, it was not particularly comfortable.
I eventually sold it on ebay for $90.
Net loss: $150 (includes cost of new fabric & padding)
Me too, azure...
I went...
Me too, azure...
I went in this antique store twice while a 3 tier Panton Fun Lamp was on sale from $300 down to $50! This was when I was first interested in modern furniture. I was looking for Eames shells basically and knew nothing about lighting yet. When I got home from the second trip I noticed the same lamp in my 'retro modern' book. When I called someone had just bought it. I am pretty damn sure it was a real Panton ... and those lamps are worth a pretty penny!
Also - I regret all the crappy second hand 50s furniture I bought when I was younger. I spent what was to me a lot of money on it. Later when I learned more about design and aquired a taste for well designed items I couldn't give the stuff away.
Then - My first 'designer items' was a set of 6 bertoia dining chairs. They had been repainted. I thought I could get them repowdercoated or something only to find out that it was rilsan dipped. I ended up selling all 6 for $350. I did speak to Val Bertoia in the process of researching them though...
campari light...not!
Hey spanky, I like your post about the bertoia chair. It reminds me of the time, that I foolish thought I could make my own ingo maurer campari light. I went and bought little bottles of campari and stuff. Needless to say, this project went belly-up, and we ended up serving the bottles of campari at a party one night.
baked
What, I'm not the only one who thinks mod DIY is possible? What a relief.
I found directions on the internet somewhere for making a sputnik light fixture out of stainless steel bowls from IKEA and other odds & ends. I was seriously considering it until I remembered the whole Bertoia fiasco. I think I'll just spend the money for the real thing, thank you very much. Way less embarassing...
Doh! forever
I'm very selective when I buy modern furniture and art so I haven't really had any regrets so far. Perhaps except buying some nice Verner Panton chairs and having them reupholstered at a price that goes beyond their actual value. I loved those chairs so it was worth it but I did loose some money when I sold them several years later.
However, I do regret not buying a plastic picnic set designed by Helen von Boch in 1971 and produced by Villeroy & Boch. I saw it at a fleamarket shortly before it closed but I didn't buy it. Why? - I simply forgot. A set like that usually sells for about $1000/800 euro.
Oh yes, and in the early days when I started collecting, a guy phoned me and offered me a large amount of green Verner Panton fabric, a colour he rarely used in his fabric designs. I said no thanks as I didn't like the colour green at that time.
So sad now ...
azurechicken
I lived in Denmark for a year and saw lots of ho-hum interiors devoid of good Danish design. The people we bought our house from had nothing of note in the way of furnishings or decor. It looked like any number of old lady houses in the U.S.
On the other hand, I think the most gorgeous home I've ever been in anywhere is the apartment of some dear friends in Copenhagen. Not only do they have beautiful things but they have put them together in a way that is the perfect blend of form and function and home.
Here's to you, azurechicken ...
Well, a question that's a bit hard to answer but I'll have to say no, though I'm absolutely sure that the level is way above average if Denmark was to be compared to other countries in Europe. If we're talking vintage design, then the Arne Jacobsen's chairs, Montana's bookcases and Poul Henningsen's lamps easily to be found but to my knowledge ... let me think ... in homes where you find design, there's often more of it and then in other homes there's absolutely none. Ok, sounds weird but it's either something or nothing.
Even my fellow "poor" students (age 19-23) have old Arne Jacobsen chairs around their Piet Hein tables or a Globe Lamp by Verner Panton hanging above the dining table in their worn appartment with holes in the ceiling. A friend of my mother's even has an old Arne Jacobsen Swan chair in leather sitting in her hallway. She uses it to throw her jacket on it when she comes home from work.
These are of course interesting examples but actually to me is not that far from being normal. But people in Denmark tend to have a quite relaxed attitude to design. Because of the massive amount of teak and palisander furniture made in the 1950's-1970's, I think every family has stuff like this somewhere in their house or basement.
When I go to even the smallest fleamarkets, there's always eithe glassware by Holmegaard (esp. Per Lütken), Krenit bowls, Arne Jacobsen chairs, Verner Panton Flowerpot lamps or teak furniture to be found. Even when I go to the houses of my friend's families, there's a Borge Morgesen chair and ottoman, Arne Vodder lounge chairs or Hans Wegner sofas in the living room. Some are wealthy, some are not but you can be find furniture or design items by famous designers in both types of households.
It depends on so much. I've got my own interest in design from my family as my father is a furniture collector too.
If we're talking modern design, well ... Danish design (furniture, jewelry, clothes etc.) is certainly building up steam and I think it'll explode soon. 2010-2020 could very well be the decade where the second golden age of Danish design seriously kicks in. In the media generally there's a huge focus on design, both nationally and internationally, and as I remember it's always been like that.
It's actually estimated that there's a PH lamp in every 5th Danish household. Whenever you go down a street in Copenhagen, it's 90 procent sure that you'll spot the first PH lamp in a window very fast.
So, so conclude at least something: Yes, it is a misconception that everyone in Denmark is "into" design but it's not that far from actually being true.
Did this make any sense?
Hi all... I have to say you...
Hi all... I have to say you all should be wary of Bertoia chairs. I personally love them as much as any chair out there, if they are padded right, and you have a body that fits the form.
I reweld these broken ones, and study where and why they break. I see the ebay stuff sell, and sometimes see clearly broken apart chairs sell for way too much. While they are still neat to look at... you only make the chair worse by continued use of a broken chair.
Its costly to repair broken wire chairs, but it can be done and save the chair for future use. Insist on TIG welding repairs if you job it out. Spot welding would probably work, if you can find a really heavy duty spot welder.
My worst buy.... its hard to miss with century items. But I would have to say Knoll bedroom chests are horrible if you ever study Mccobb case goods. The Knoll birch line was poorly finished, and the materials were birch wood, and I regret buying the one I own. I probably still won't loose money.
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