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18-Nov-07 |
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Jacobsen Swan chair. Is satisfactory repair possible?
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
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posted by
apollo
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18-Nov-07 |
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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.
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posted by
barrympls
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18-Nov-07 |
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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
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posted by
LRF
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18-Nov-07 |
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Why did you say that, LRF?
I don't understand what the problem is....apparently you think it's not OK for me to contribute?
If you have a serious problem, why not email me directly?
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posted by
barrympls
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18-Nov-07 |
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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?
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posted by
the_beloved
edited on 18-Nov-07 02:41 AM [edit]
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18-Nov-07 |
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.
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
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18-Nov-07 |
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barry judging from your ...
barry judging from your other post, I don't think you are having a good day and seem to be bitching at everone, so I will choose to take the high road for a change and just pass,
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posted by
LRF
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18-Nov-07 |
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posted by
LRF
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18-Nov-07 |
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18-Nov-07 |
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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
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posted by
LRF
edited on 18-Nov-07 05:40 AM [edit]
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18-Nov-07 |
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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
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posted by
apollo
edited on 18-Nov-07 11:20 AM [edit]
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18-Nov-07 |
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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.
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posted by
LRF
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18-Nov-07 |
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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
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posted by
donsof
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18-Nov-07 |
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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
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posted by
LRF
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18-Nov-07 |
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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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posted by
apollo
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19-Nov-07 |
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i wish i did know a ...
i wish i did know a good guy over in England to do that kinda work check first with the shop that does fiberglass auto work, and once you get that fixed you will find some one to upholster the chair,
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posted by
LRF
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21-Nov-07 |
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Ouch...
A rare chair...
Ouch...
A rare chair broke at the weakest spot... It happened to a friends here. Its just like a surf board in that area. You will need fiberglass resin and matte to get the repair done. It should be taken out of service right now before you hurt it further. Get the cover off and get it redone.
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posted by
donsof
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21-Nov-07 |
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In this day and age.....
Finding an upholsterer in your city shouldn't be any more difficult than finding a good Dentist.
Ask around....go to the best antique shops in town and ask who they'd bring a piece to..... It's best (of course) to find an upholsterer who specializes in MCM furniture, but I believe that if your town doesn't have one, a good professional upholsterer should be able to determine how to fix your piece - especially if you have pictures of how it should look.
When I started to buy MCM furniture for my new (old) house, I asked a couple of MCM stores in town and alll of them directed me to a particular upholsterer here in town.
Hope this helps...
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posted by
barrympls
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21-Nov-07 |
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the hardest thing to upho...
the hardest thing to upholster in MCM furniture is Womb chairs, swan chairs, Egg chairs, coconut chair, and the Eames Arm shells, we have done them all.
any thing else i feel any competent upholster should be able to do, and when i get many calls which i am thankful for each call. I try to save them money on shipping, ahd tell them to use a local guy but we have done the day beds by Nelson, Knoll, and others, the Sherrif chair can be difficult as can the cone chairs
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posted by
LRF
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21-Nov-07 |
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LRF...why is it hard?
the hardest thing to upholster in MCM furniture is Womb chairs, swan chairs, Egg chairs, coconut chair, and the Eames Arm shells, we have done them all.
------------------
LRF: I have heard that the Egg chair is especially problematic since it's difficult to get the fabric to stay adherred to the back of the chair. I guess the same might go for the Coconut chair (although my late friend had an original one with orange vinyl. The vinyl was torn on the inside along one of the seams, but the remainder of the vinyl was well attached to the curve.
Why would the Swan be just as difficult? I thought that the fabric was not actually glued to the form....I thought that there was foam or padding from and back. (I could be wrong, of course.)
I am interested in why the Womb would be difficult.
Barry
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posted by
barrympls
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22-Nov-07 |
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barry
barry
all of the chairs with the exception of the shell chairs and the coconut must be hand sewn and glued to the foam
The coconut takes a lot of time cause you just have to start from the beginning on that one and use almost 200.00 worth of foam and make a cover and make it fit tight with glue,
If you make a mistake you must peal it off and start over some times you can save the fabric sometimes it is trashed, If you do not use a heaviy enough fabric, the glue bleeds right through and it is trashed that happened on my egg chair I chose a
a great looking knoll fabric and it was to thin , I went to messenger Maharam and it was fine as it was thick enough, The womb is just as difficult as the process is the same, On the womb a lot of the cushions are missing for some reason and we had to create our own pattern for them as they are no more than a ordinary small pillow,
The shell chairs after doing almost 200, we have that down to a science, ( The science of armshells not offered at College) you must grind out all of the old foam and then sculpt it back, glue it on and put a crimp cord on ,
I have no idea why no shops want to have any thing to do with them but for some reason we have been blessed in that department as it seems every one sends us that one chair to do, and they are my favorite, every time I see one of the guy s working on one , I love it as it seems someone wants to preserve the heritage of that chair. enclosed are two of three chairs that we redid last week....
the owner sold me one ... YEA
  ">
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posted by
LRF
edited on 22-Nov-07 03:12 AM [edit]
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22-Nov-07 |
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I guess was lucky with the Grasshopper, then
Other than the structual repair on the inside right frame, my friend, David at Remnants didn't have much trouble doing my Grasshopper Chair and Ottoman, although he did have to sacrifice the nude silk fabric (which wasn't original, anyhow).
At that time, I was seriously considering going after a apparently petrified Womb Chair and Ottoman instead on eBay.... glad I didn't!
Have you ever tackled a George Nelson 1946 setee or a Saarinen Womb Setee?
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posted by
barrympls
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22-Nov-07 |
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posted by
LRF
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13-Mar-10 |
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To LRF
Hello LRF and everyone else on the board,
I'm currently having a 1965 Egg chair re-upholstered, upon stripping the chair, my upholster informed me that at least part of the chair is constructed with styrofoam- not fiberglass. Have you experienced this before?
Perhaps this has been discussed in another thread previously, if so, would someone kindly let me know? Thank you!
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posted by
Light.Folio
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14-Mar-10 |
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Light.Folio
The entire shell of swan and egg chairs is made of foam, not fiberglass. That is why the egg chair is so light for its size.
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posted by
Pegboard Modern (USA)
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15-Mar-10 |
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Thank you Pegboard Modern
Thank you for the information! I might post some pictures later and shared the information when the chair is fixed/re-upholstered. (I was informed that after stripping the chair, the foam structure needs to be fixed and repaired) Seriously crossing my fingers as I don't know how it's going to turn out.
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posted by
Light.Folio
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20-Apr-10 |
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pulling naugahyde
Is there any way to re-attach naugahyde that is pulling away from the back of an eames shell chair?
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posted by
miko
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