Today I had a fabulous day – despite breaking the car (yet again)! I drove through to Edinburgh to see my friends Sarah & Ralph to pick up a chair they’ve been storing in their loft for a very long time. It’s a chair that’s been in Sarah’s family for decades and as she’s moving home and has no room for it, she asked if I wanted to take it and give it a good home, rather than her hide it away in another loft for god knows how long.
When Sarah first mentioned it was a Wassily chair, I had no idea what she was on about, but after seeing a few pictures I realised what was on offer! It’s an absolute design classic and I was chuffed to bits she asked if I wanted to take it off her hands. I’ve always loved the style of this chair, but have never really known much about it as I never really studied the Bauhaus movement at college.
It fitted into the car boot perfectly – it’s amazing what you can get into a SAAB! It travelled all the way to the Rosyth filling station with me and then it kept me company for an hour whilst I waited for the recovery guys to come and sort out my flat tyre – ho hum. It was great to get it home at last and take it into the empty kitchen and sit down and drink coffee in it and look out to sea through our new fantastic glass back door!
I think it’s destined for the library, surrounded by books – might have to get a vintage lamp to go with it too – I’d love it in my studio, but don’t think I’ll have the room, once my jewellery bench is installed and I get my web design desk in there too. Here it is in our incomplete kitchen…
I always imagined them made with black leather, but Sarah’s is made with a lovely tan leather – my favourite. It’s also a lot wider than I imagined as I aways thought of these chairs as square in dimension. It needs a little TLC as some of the stitching has come loose at the front of the seat. So it’s going to be a nice little project for me, if my right hand can deal with doing a bit of stitching.
I have just the tool to fix this – just need to source the right thread – I thought I had some in stock, but the only thread I have that’s the right thickness is bright pink – not ideal at all.
The deal is that I look after it and use it and cherish it and when Sarah & Ralph have the room for it they can get it back, but they’ll have to arm wrestle for it – so I better get my arm back to full strength and put up a good fight!
Gasp! So jealous! I’ve always wanted one of those chairs. Enjoy 😀
As an aside the only thread I have of that thickness is bright pink too! Maybe it only comes in bright pink 😉
OMG…that so fabulous am more than a little jealous. Hmmm….where did I see the perfect light fitting for your kitchen to work with that…if I remember I will return
Already bought the lights for the kitchen – some very stylish glass rise and fall jobbies – the chair is eventually going into the library, once that room has been cleared of the temporary makeshift kitchen we’ve been using for the past three months, oh and the solid oak flooring that needs to be laid througout the downstairs – Colin is looking like a broken man at the moment with the amount of DIY on his shoulders – at least I can start on the painting this week and give him a bit of a hand.
A few months ago I saw two chairs just like this in the backroom of the Antiques Mall in Wildwood, Florida.