I do not restore a great deal of modernist furniture, tending instead to concentrate on items in good original condition.
Breaking my own rules, I have recently acquired an original tilt and swivel Jacobsen Swan chair. The fabric is shot and on the front edge the foam is exposed and looks as if it is breaking down. That is not the worst, as you look at the chair face on. The chair back on the left hand side is listing downwards by 1 or 2 inches. Is this repairable, what am I likely to find when I strip of the fabric.
The chair is a nice early one with the faceted base, so hopefully worth spending some time on.
Mark
Yes, it's easy
My friend here in Minneapolis, who has a mid-century modern and other reupholstery business has done a Swan chair....it can be reupholstered, the same way he did my Grasshopper chair. It was repaired (had a broken wood joint, and he completely reupolstered it professionally.
Depending on your location, I'm certain you can get it to look like new.
now that Barry has weighted...
now that Barry has weighted in on this subject , I guess the only thing for me to say is yes it can be redone with no problem , as we redo them every day , once you strip it down you will see a big fiberglass shell that needs to be re padded and recovered it is a expensive job cause it has to be hand sewn and can be expensive so if your local guy says 750 to 800 that is what it will be, plus the fact that you have a tilt that makes that chair really worth redoing, good luck
You two need to hug it out.....
peace! peace!
Anyways, this question is for LRF as I have a similar swan, but in original naugahyde. The foam still seems good, as it was sealed by the naugahyde. The problem with the chair is that for some ridiculous reason, the previous owner superglued a homemade slipcover on it.
So, the question is, can you redo the nauga and salvage the foam? Or is the foam glued to the nauga and both have to be redone together?
.
I posted this the other day, very intersting but I'm not sure if many people noticed it. Its about an egg not a swan but goes through the restoration of one, with pictures. I think they did a good looking job right up until the cushion, which they stuffed up.
IF I were you I would strip it back, pull all the foam off, get the shell repaired, and post just the shell back to Fritz Hansen for re-upholstery, re-assemble it yourself when you get it back. If you post the whole thing as is to FH it will cost a mountain.
http://mitchellpowellfurnishings.com/rest_p_Egg%20Chair.htm
I was just on the FH site...
I was just on the FH site and couldn't find anything about re-upholstery, odd.
Anyway this link looks good and they give prices!
http://www.bkupholstery.com/
the_beloved
for that fabric to lay nice it has to be spray glued to the foam.
Now the problem is when you remove that nagahide the old foam will come with it , it will just tear off in chunks, then you have to take the old grinder just like the armshells, cause it would take weeks to remove it by hand, so after that it needs to be re sculpted with new foam and then you make your cover and hand sew it in three pieces, We have thrown out so many large cut outs of fabric cause the foam is lumpy, or the fabric has rayon in it and won't stick with the glue, and then the most important is it has to fit real tight or bubble will happen, this is not uncommon,
but to answer your question,
i do not think that you will be able to save that foam, unless they did not use spray glue and you would save about 200.00 then.
i hope this helps I am sure you local guy can give you a closer bid, i did look at this story that hp
provided and this is how to do it mitchellpowellfurnishings.com/rest_p_Egg%20Chair.htm
I understand about the foam and re-upholstery.
But what about the list in the back. How easily repaired is it. Is this a job for a cabinetmaker or an upholsterer. Being a tilting chair is this likely to break again, because of the extra stress.
Any reason it should not be re-upholstered in leather, seeing as the original material is shot.
Mark
i would take it the local ...
i would take it the local guy and let him strip it down and see what the problem is either he can fix it or have to send it out. you would be amazed so many of the guys that work in those shops can do just about anything I think i know a few things about this subject, a lot of them know about fiberglass and it sounds like it might need some of that, also leather would be nice it is hard to do cause it has to be hand sewn.
The listing you speak of...
The listing you speak of could be happening because the tilt connection to the base, is a modern marvel, and could have several things wrong. The upper half of the shell could be broken. The tilt could be broken but its more likely to be fiberglass damage.
Its hard to see the tilt hinge, even with the cover off. I own one, and stripped it down before sending it to be recovered. It must be the first thing that goes into a swan shell. There is no wood that I know of in a swan! It looks like a piece of foam insulation with a skin of fiberglass, and some extra resin and cloth at critical areas. Surf boards are made like this I believe. Know of any surf shops?
post pictures of the listing and note where its askew
auto shops that work on cor...
auto shops that work on corvetts can fix them another guess at it would be that from the weight of tilting in can make the hole loose and might be chipping away . but like Don said it could be a problem with the mechanism of the tilt, the only thing i can say from past experience Fitz Hansen is unreal expensive with those mechanism so i would take it to local machine shop and they might have to replace it with a o ring or mill something for you that would cost around 75.00 vs a new mechanism from Fitz Hansen for 600.00
another thing that i will tell you is we had a original 1958 marshmellow from Herman miller that a customer wanted restored.
It look like the family car had run it over 30
years ago cause both side legs were smashed
I called my gal pal at Herman miller and she called back and said no problem we can get you the two side legs.
price $1200.00 my cost , just for the two side legs on the marshmellow
i was shocked cause my cost for a new one is around 1900.00 and that is for 18 cushion tops and steel saucers,
Why that should be so expensive, i have no idea but we sent it out to a local shop that does pipe bend ing and he thinks he can re fabricate one just like the original for 400.00 and it will be black powder coated,
so use those shops if you can
to go to a original manufacture should be a last resort, but these are not cheap pieces of furniture a new Egg 7000.00 and a new marshmallow around 3000.00
swan chair list
Thanks for all the info I really appreciate it. The tilt mechanism seems fine, you can sit in the chair and it does everything it is supposed to, back, forward round and around. The problem is the back, it feels like there must be a sructural break across the narrow part of the back. The seat itself is horizontal, no probs there. It is just the back that is leaning. Anyone know competent guy in England to do this type of work. Too expensive for us to ship to the US, I am afraid.
Mark
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