Dont do them up unless you...
Dont do them up unless you intend to keep them and dont worry about condition when you sell them as they will sell regardless providing your reserve is reasonable. Talk to the nearest auction house to you that has a history of selling items like these.

My 3 Arne Jacobsen chairs............
Thanks for your thoughts about my chairs. I think I'd really like to keep them and use them. Would you know where I could have them properly restored? I live in New Jersey..............can you recommend a place that would do that? Thanks again.

As posted in the recent...
As posted in the recent acquisitions thread, I recently acquired an egg and ottoman that I now have a moral obligation to have them re-done. Its not going to be an inexpensive proposition, so I'm thinking I'm going to bite the bullet and do it in leather. I'm hoping to have something that looks like the image below 10-15 years from now. So, a few questions:

1. Anyone done one of these recently in brown/caramel/camel leather? If so, what type/color of leather did you use? I've been looking at Spinneybeck and Edelman and am a bit overwhelmed by all of the options.

2. I'm leaning towards BK upholstery in PA. They are relatively close by, competitively priced, and undoubtedly have experience with theses chairs. Anyone used them? Happy/Unhappy?

Hoping to get this project rolling after the new year-so any help/guidance is greatly appreciated.

Oh I almost forgot. I have this sideboard with a Mahogany Association sticker # 834.........

Me too! The camel leather is...
Me too! The camel leather is sick on this design!

Thank you! I just went on...
Thank you! I just went on the Sørensen site-beautiful leathers. I am going to contact them about cost/shipping etc. Light.folio, do you have a pic of your chair you could post?

jesgord
I believe that egg chair was reupholstered here in Chicago. If you are considering shipping your chair to PA to be redone, it would most likely not cost any more to send it to the shop in Chicago.

I recently got this egg chair which needs to be reupholstered. I'm thinking black leather.

Dark chocolate brown also looks nice.

It's the original magenta
... but it has issues and I don't think it can be saved. Even if it could, it's a pretty difficult color to work into your interior. Pretty high-key. That is why I was thinking black. It goes with everything, never goes out of style, and looks great atop the silver base.

The cognac color is nice also, and very popular.

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

"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.

FAIL
answer above in 25 Jan 2011 FAIL thread

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

Aged leather
I agree. I want my chair to be like my wallet. Yes it has scars, yes it has color variation, yet it is well worn like a baseball mitt.

it is my chair, it should be.

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!

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.

I'm guessing the leather...
I'm guessing the leather chairs have welt because it's a tidy finish when hand stitching is not practical. You COULD hand stitch leather but it is much harder to stitch neatly than is fabric. The leather ones are probably finished with curved metal tacking strips. You can use them without welt but welt makes a neater finish, I think.

Nope, never done one, but I have worked on pieces with similar characteristics.

I don't know anything about...
I don't know anything about soy foam. I would use latex foam because it was what was used in the originals and it has a nice resiliency that polyfoam lacks, which makes it a better choice (in my opinion) when thin foam is called for. If soy foam is comparable in feel and longevity to latex, then I guess it's worth considering. But again, I don't know anything about it.

split in the backrest
started stripping the swan chairs down quite a bit, and now I see there's a fairly large split on the back side of the backrest. It's not affecting the stability of the back yet, but it'll have to be repaired.

I know the chair frame is made of some sort of foam (not sure what type) so I'm hoping I can maybe inject some resin or epoxy but not sure what would be the best type. Has anyone had a similar problem? Any suggestions deeply appreciated.

Thanks!

Please show us...
Please show us the result of your reupholstered chair! Very curious to see the result!

Its scheduled to be finished ...
Its scheduled to be finished on the 27th. Depending on how it comes out, I'll likely also be sending them a 3303 sofa that I got @ a month ago. At this point I'm think that I'm going to recover the sofa in white Soresen leather. It should be a piece of cake compared to the egg.

You are correct. The sofa ca...
You are correct. The sofa came from a local auction and I did pay more than $5. I recently sold a pair of Kagan sofas that I had purchased @ 10 years ago and made more than enough in profit to cover (pardon the pun) the cost of buying and re-upholstery of the 3303. Although, very institutional and not the most comfortable sofa in the world, there has always been something about the 3303 I really like. Amazingly, it takes about the same amount of leather as the egg to redo and costs less than half as much.....I figured why not.

egg chair
Hi Merle.
Are you at all interested in selling your egg chair.
I have owned a few pieces of Arne jacobson furniture and over the years have come to love and admire their functional yet beautiful design.
Another addition to my family would be fantastic.
Hopefully yours
Anton

So, some disappointing news...
So, some disappointing news on my end. Seems the Sorensen range analine leather I purchased did not react as expected to the wetting and gluing required on the front of the chair. According to the upholsterer, who has been doing these chairs for 30 years, this is the first time he has seen such a reaction. As you can see there, is significant darkening in the areas that are the most stretched. Good news (if you can call it that) is that the upholsterer has agreed to purchase the Spinneybeck leather of my choice (at his cost) and re-do the chair. I think part of the reason they are willing to do this is because I sent them a sample of the Sorensen leather to test, prior to ordering the hides

So now, I've got to go through the leather choosing process, yet again and will have to wait for samples, the leather and the work to be completed. It is encoraging though to see my chair covered in leather-- the chair looks beautiful. All said, I commend the upholsterer for doing the right thing and agreeing to remedy the situation. I was despondent for a few days but am feeling a bit better now

So, anyone done one of these in Spinneybeck? Suggestions on leather type/color? I'm looking for something similar to the Sorrensen ;-)

I know what you mean. I...
I know what you mean and I actually asked if they could possibly make the backmatch the front as it does not have the same darkening from the wetting and stretching. I fear the overall effect would be odd that way. The same would also need to be done for the cushion, I think. If I don't find a spinneybeck leather I like, I may consider it. My biggest concern though, is how it might age....

Looks like the antiquing found on Edward Green calfskin shoes
This effect is done on purpose!! Seriously,I think you should keep it as is.Like I said,the antiquing is the final step which is done after every pair of shoes is completed.They are amongst the worlds finest,and your egg chair reminds me of this.Ttally unique!!

I am by no means a leather ex...
I am by no means a leather expert but its an aniline dyed leather with no protective "top coat" I suspect one could apply some type of leather cleaner or conditioner (maybe saddle soap, mink or neatsfoot oil, lexol etc.) and achieve some level of uniformity. If I were to have the chair like this, though, I don't think I'd even try to make it look more uniform. It like the look of mine better than the one in the background of the image....but that could be as much to do with the color choice. As a general rule, I prefer things with a bit of "character". This, though, almost seems like contrived character.... even though it was done in error.

hey jescord, I think I was...
hey jescord,

I think I was the one who suggested the Sorensen leather a lonnng time ago. I considered both Spinneybeck and Sorensen before upholstering my own chair and went with Sorensen simply because Spinneybeck didn't have a similar offerings back then (2 years ago)and was more expansive. The Sorensen leather is much thicker and stiffer than the Spinneybeck Aniline and what my upholsterer friend called suitcase leather when he got it. He had some difficulties stretching the leather but did it to the best of his abilities and finished the project in a week. Mine chair also had dark areas from wetting, but some dissapeared after it is allowed to fully dry (we took a hairdryer to try to dry some of the areas) There are couple of spots however that stayed darker. Depends on where you will be using the chair, the leather slowly fades if it is exposed to a lot of sun, but also darkens somewhat under normal daily use. There weren't a lot of noticeble change in my chair in the first year, but I can def. tell a bit of difference now in the second year if I compare it with the original sample side by side. The dark spots actually faded (very slowly) and is starting to blend in a little with the rest of the chair. I would encourage you to keep the chair as is dispite its "flaws", it looks way more used/lived in than a brand new chair which would depict this particular chair much more honestly.

It's all well for us to love...
It's all well for us to love and critique your chair, and the leather indeed looks great this way, but I can imagine when you pay top dollar, you want the work and result to be the same...

Hi jescord, Do you have...
Hi jescord,

Do you have an email address I can reach you at? I think it's easier for me to email you the pictures than posting them on here. I just pulled my old samples out for my egg chair (I kept everything in a folder for references later.) Be sure to look into the Capri and Espana from Spinneybeck, they were in my final choices package. I think I almost went with Espana ES21 but just liked the feel of Sorensen that much more. Let me know!

jescord, Sorry, I think...
jescord,

Sorry, I think that was the old numbering system. It does have a 8358 at the bottom, maybe that's what it is now?

Good luck with your chair, can't wait to see the final product!

Thanks....but maybe you have ...
Thanks....but maybe you have the wrong address? Its jesGord@ gmail dot com not jesCord....

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing your chair

egg chair
Hi, I had my egg chair redone in leather and picked it up last week from bk upholstery at PA. (spinneybeck ESPANA las conchas) I'm not totally satisfied with the job because the leather on bottom center is glued on and not stitched on and there are wrinkles and the surface is not very smooth. What should I do? Should I send it back? I expected them to do a much better job. Please give me your opinions.

doorak Were you informed t...
doorak

Were you informed that the bottom piece of leather is going to be glued on? I have no idea why they would do that, seems like an after thought or a mistake to me. It also look like that one piece of leather at the base is falling off? If you are not happy with it then you should take it back. Of course they will try to tell you that it's ok because it's a part that no body sees, and to fix that problem, they'd probably have to redo the chair. Just be persistent. Oh and btw, you have your cushion placed backwards, the rounded side should be pointing inwards.

no
no, i was told that it will be exactly like the fritz hansen ver. which obviously is not.
it really pisses me off bcuz it cost me 1250+ 1200 for leather, and my egg chair was perfect b4. It wasnt like a vintage piece that had the foams dried up or nething. I have 3 egg chairs all in
Fabric n i just decided to have one of them redone in leather, bcuz
I fell in love with the walnut elegance sorensen leather egg after i
Saw it at the fritz hansen store in soho. I even have pic of my chair b4 the
Reupholstery. What pisses me the most is that i dropped off the chair in sep. Was told that it would be ready in6-8weeks but they delayed it like 3 times saying that they were busy n finally got it done at the end of jan. I still wouldve been happy if they did an impeccable job but 5months for this???? What should i do guys?

doorak2, did you go back to...
doorak2, did you go back to the upholsterer and tell them that you are unhappy? I'm wondering how this all panned out

follow up
I let bk upholstery know that I was unhappy with the chair and they sent someone to pick it up right away. They have been very communicative and helpful from the beginning and I was patient even after they delayed it a few times because I was very happy with their customer service. This is part of the e-mail I got from them.

"Regarding the bottom piece of leather that we glued and you were told it should be sewn. Fritz Hansen originally attached this piece of leather by gluing it and this is how we do it. The round piece of leather that has come away from the chair is usually one piece. We were not able to remove your base so we had to cut the leather in order to apply it. This piece should not have come loose. Your other issues we can address once we have the chair"

Is this true? Anyway, I hope they make it right this time.
I must say, their customer service is top notch, I hope I can say the same for the reupholstery job. I will keep you guys posted how this goes.

A year and a half and a few...
A year and a half and a few dollars later, my $5.00 thrift shop egg and ottoman are complete. After the Sorensen leather fail, BK was king enough to purchase new leather of my choice. Went with Spinneybeck Spinneybeck Cordovan 0068 "Sun Dried Brick" Looking at the sample in my hand, I can tell you that the images do not accurately portray the color. That said, I still haven't yet seen it is the flesh. Cushion will be completed today. Now to move on to the 3303......

Great Job!
looks beautiful!

uttermost beautifulity!
Meow!

That looks very nicely done i...
That looks very nicely done indeed.

Not sure what they did with...
Not sure what they did with the Soresnsen leather but if I get it back, I've got plenty of places where I could use it myself ;-)