Yesterday a customer came by and asked if we could spray paint A Eames bucket chair.. It was brought to my attention and I at first thought No why.... Why would you want to,
He said he was in California last month and saw several that were painted at a design fair were several of the Vendors were binging old designs to the fair .
He did tell me that they were professionally painted by automotive
paint shops with primers and sprays and said they look wonderful., with a high gloss coat,
Has anyone seen what they look like ? When it comes to shells i have
always prided my self as a purest on these shell chairs cause i like the natural grass look of the fiberglass ., but more and more shells we get are so banged up or our filty on the back side,with paint and grim , remember we recover the front side so it is
only the back that we care about,
I have more than enough shells to try one, What do you think? do you think it will look good or fake any ideas ? I could care less of ruining the value as it will be more than worth its value once we put a new Girard fabric on it.
Just wondering what you would do,
Durability
I dunno that I would use a spraypaint off the shelf of the hardware store, merely for matters of durability. Every spray painted shell (and any other object) always has small chip marks, or dust, or scratches. I'd be more inclined to bring it to an autobody shop and have them do it. I'm bringing an old shell to a shop (sometime when I have free time) to have them re-coat it in clear.
I agree with you LRF, I like the fibers showing through more than a solid color. But, Herman Miller has a history of painting the backs of the shells that were upholstered, so I dont see why not. Be sure to post before and after shots 🙂
lucifersum
i am like you if i have some free time i will take it by a auto body shop to try one and then have them put the clear coat on it. Now I have to figure out what will be a great color for the shell. I know Herman Miller painted them plain white and a dull gray and they did not even use a clear coat , Who knows maybe thanks to those progressive thinkers in California I might be on to something I will post when finished,
lucifersum
question .... what good will clear coat do? if the shell is scratched , banged, have marks that will not come off won't clear coat just show the marks with a clear shine? That is t he problem that i have with about 20 of these shells that i bought on ebay they are awful looking all over and really dirty , I have tried every thing from paint thinner to citrus lime to try to restore them to the natural good look, I did notice that on the White on White web site they sell shells that are really shinny, I called the guy up and he was honest enough to tell me that they do scratch bad, that means that they must be painted, Now the Modernica shells that i have had, have wonderful fibers but they are a dull shell, so who knows.......
Character
I think if you want an even surface then painting them before clearcoating is a good idea. The one I've got is clean, but was left outside so it has no gelcoat left. Some of the fibers are on the surface and cause my arms to itch. I just wanna clearcoat it to make it useable again.
I guess it depends on how badly the shells are beat up. I know a lot of people like the character that those marks. Clearcoating them will preserve the character, but even out the feel of the surface.
As for the modernica shells, if you give them time they will eventually polish up just like the old Herman Miller ones.
LRF
I have heard success stories about using an autobody shop. I personally would not concern myself with how shinny or not shinny they are. I personally perfer the shell when the shine wears down.
I would collect the scratched/stained ones in groups of four and make them matching dining sets on eiffel or dowel bases. It's so hard to find a good set in great condition... especially upholstered ones. The fabric is usally pulled away or stained on at least one in a set you find. I bet you'll sell more that way.
I personally would love to upholster 4 sides and two arms for a set ... maybe with a cream back and a gold colored fabric.
As for what colors ... I have seen all kinds of color combos on original shells ... not just white or gray. One i saw was a blue back with green upholstery. Looked bizarre!
Hi All!!!!
I too have an old shell (zenith rope edge) that has seen WAY better days. It has 3 cracks in the seat, three holes, and the clear has worn off. My brother works in the automotive repair industry, mainly in the paints and custom airbrushing. I asked him about repairing the chair and he said he could fix the holes and cracks, but would have to end up painting it, or else you would see the filler. I'm not sure what color I want it tho. I was thinking black or white, but then there are all those custom colors! I'll post before and afters to let you all see!
Thanks Dr_Pepper105
I like the way you said Hi All in our part of the country we say You All so you are not from Texas or Oklahoma .
I for one would love to see the finished product, I sold some Girard shells to a dealer and he in turn so them to this fellow who is selling them on Ebay he did a excellent job cleaning them up and scraping the old clue off the sides of the Girard chairs .
I talk to him last night and he said it only took a year as that is when he bought them from me about 16 months ago, but they turned out great here is the ebay number 110146530700 Dr Pepper I think your brother is on the right track i want to see how they turn out i was debating to paint mine grey black or white be sure to put the clear on i think it will then look great . I guess you have to put the paint on thick as that will cover up the old dings and scratches
and scrapes, I wanted to see a little of the fibers i think they look cool but that might be hard to do when you repaint them .
this shell was done with ...
this shell was done with a original white back cause it was in good conditon but i think it would have been fun to have done it in another color if the shell was bummed out ,We have done the fabrics and vinyls in 100's of combinations i encourage people
to do the two tones i love them and have lots of photographs of differnt combos , We kinda started the business of doing the head and seat with Maharam fabric and the arms with vinyl and i can honestly say the people love that combo it breaks things up I have people who were doubtful they would like call and say they love it , We did this at first cause the guy we hired to redo these shells was a little nervous
about getting the stripes stright so we did with the vinyl arms He got so good he could do them blindfolded so now we do both ways
Alexander Girard did them with the fabric seats and vinyl arms but he always used the matching fabrics ( I think he got to step out as far as Herman Miller would let him . but talk about great and ahead of his time, Now if we get these shells repainted we are all on to something great a New day for Shells
LRF...
I am from Texas! Right now I'm around the Austin area. I'll post pics of my chair when it's ready. I've got another shell chair that had the fabric on it, but it was shot. So, I think I'm going to do a test run on it with the paint. The fun part is it's going to be bright and shiny orange!
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