Solair Chairs...from the dump

Designed in Montreal in 1972 by Fabio Fabiano and Michelange Panzini. I just got the black one for free yesterday from the dump's 'New To You' trailer, the orange one came from an end of year garage sale for $2.00. These chairs are really comfortable and have been reissued recently by a shop out of Toronto. It seems they're easy to pick up for $150 or less from several spots. It's nice the bases fold up so they take up much less space for winter storage. These will be deployed on our yet to be built front patio that's brewing for later this summer.

Court Noxon Metalsmiths Roo Chair - Canadian boardroom classic

So Big Up! to the CDR site for posting the link to the awesome Court Noxon website. It's really inspiring, there was so much cool stuff that came out of the Metalsmiths studio. I don't think any of the Metalsmiths is marked, so you have to know what you're looking for. The site has been a great resource, most personally for the fact that it led to the identification of a set of 5 Metalsmiths 922 Roo chairs that we purchased at our local radio station's fundraising garage sale! We got all 5 chairs for a total of $5. When you pick these chairs up you know they're quality pieces - they are so freakin' heavy. "The flexible frame is cold rolled steel with polished chrome or oxidised bronze finish."  The upholstery on them is a bit saggy but is otherwise perfect. I sent a couple of emails to the Metalsmiths site since and have found out that these chairs are still in production. One of the original finish options for the metal was black chrome - I need some of that in my life...

Swedish Midcentury Rocking Chair - score of the month

 

This chair warrants a new category - score of the month! The chair is June's score of the month. Sonya scooped this for $20 (negotiated down from the sales tag price of $50) at 2:00 in the afternoon on her 2nd round of garage sales on June 6th (the car was full and the wallet was empty so she had to re-up). The German lady who was selling it said she had bought it while she a student in the early 60s and had carted it around with her for 40 years, and now she decided it was too big for her house (thanks lady!). She said it came from Sweden. I can't get over how awesome this chair is. It's the most comfortable thing I've ever sat in. The proportions are superb, it just feels great. Ka-ching! Score of the month.

Pair of Thonet No.14 Bentwood cafe Chairs

It was 1/2 price Wednesday at the Ottawa Goodwill. I can't believe this set was still there at 2:30, and it was $9.99 for both. I believe they're Thonet No.14 cafe chairs, they have a very light stencil mark on their underside. Yay Thonet!

Canadian Office and School Furniture Limited wooden Chairs

We got this nice pair of chairs last weekend garage sailing. They're marked "Canadian Office and School Furniture Limited, Preston, Canada" on their bottoms. These chairs are seriously solid. They have rod supports in the runners, very heavy-duty. 

Metal Bamboo Garden table & chairs set made by Hauser International

My parents are awesome. This is the set my Dad bought for the backyard in 1975, made in Canada by Hauser International. Back in the day these set were really popular. I need to try to pick up some lounge chair as more side tables for our backyard remodel. Hauser should reissue them because their new stuff blows! It's all trying to hard, with all those grandma scrolls...get back to basics! This set has great lines and looks fresh 35 years later. I have a 5th chair in the basement. We've been trying to have as many meals in the backyard as possible before the bugs take over.

Dentsply International Dentist Dental Assistant Chair

We copped this cool dental chair for $5 on the last day of school outside of Pembroke. Overall condition is pretty good but the lever action on the seat seems pooched. I think I may make it my new desk chair

The Dump - Wood school chair and metal task stool

I haven't posted in almost two months! Yikes, time to get my act together. Sonya and I both just finished a year-long college course and are now official Personal Support Workers.  Between exams, job searching and then having a big equipment failure (Xplornet you suck, thanks Rogers Hub!) 2peas has been the forgotten foster child. We have killed it so far this garage sale season and I have much to post and update. 

I love the local Dump, there's always some sort of random crap that can be rummaged through, and they have the New-To-You trailer where folks drop off stuff they no longer want. I'm off to there this morning, and will update this post later with some more pics and todays booty. 

 

Wooden school chair, the back finish is a bit worn, but otherwise in fine shape. There's something so pleasing about any school chair. 

Anything furniture made of metal always comes home, and this task stool is great. I love the beaten top, chipped white paint and splayed legs.

White Wrought Iron Hoop Garden Chairs

We got these nice hoop chairs over the weekend for $5 apiece. They're different from the usual ones we have. I love the bent legs on these, the webbing is in pretty good shape, they could use a bit of paint touch-up but they'll be great in the garden this summer. Thanks Value Village!

FDB Mobler Chair - Pembroke Value Village $5

 

It seems that the Pembroke Value Village rarely has the goods anymore these days. They cut back bigtime on furniture to make room for more overpriced Gap mom jeans. That said, I have had a few epic scores there so it always lures me back. I dropped the hammer on this beatup yellow chair for $5, it's paint splattered and has a dogchewed corner. When I was putting it in the back I scoped 'Denmark' impressed on the underside of the seat. I'm way miopic, so it wasn't until Sonya arrived that she said it had the initials F.D.B. on it as well. It seems these were designed by Folke Palsson for F.D.B. Mobler. The chair is really comfortable, it cups the back really nicely. Sadly, I missed out on a set of 4 these with their original primary paint scheme for $50 over the summer because we were too broke. Oh well.

Canadian Bent Wood Chair

 

 

 

Sonya scored this little bent wood chair while we still lived out in Vancouver, from the awesome Cloverdale Sunday flea market.  We scored many, many awesome things from that crappy little flea (I'll post up a couple of examples later) like this chair. I haven't been able to ID a maker yet, but this is midcentury Canadian bent wood at its best. I love the curve of the back legs, the little handhold cutout, but most of all the underside of the seat! Sadly the dark staining isn't really matching up with the other stuff we have going on at the moment so this chair is unloved down in the basement graveyard.  

Folding Bentwood Plywood midcentury Rocking Lounge Chair - best dump score EVER!

I don't know about where you live, but because we live outside a small town, we have a local dump where we go to on the weekends to get rid of our garage & recycling. Every small town dump out here has a small shack where people leave free unwanted usable items. Our shack is a leaky trailer called 'New To You'. This place is like our local mall, it has given up many gems to me over the past 3 years. You have to sort through a lot of cheap broken china, Jackie Collins paperbacks and stained corporate coffee cups, but there's always something there I walk away with. Records, lamps, stereo equipment, silverware, and quite a bit of furniture.

This rocking chair was coated in about 40 years of thick dust stashed in a dark corner. I saw the bent plywood arms and knew it was something special. Once I got it home and was able to sit in it, it became apparent that this is something special. It is really well designed. Obviously it fold up nicely, but the bent wood work is really awesome. The seat and back have lovely cutaway slats through the plywood. The arms might look a bit short, but they're actually perfectly positioned to be of maximum comfort. There's a runner across at the front of the rockers that sits perfectly for your heels to rest on so the rocking motion is effortless. Words and pictures don't do this chair justice. It is my new favorite piece of furniture, and given that it was FREE  I would say it will be the score of the year come December (but check back then to see...).

If anyone has ANY info on this beauty, please let me know. It must have been mass produced.

Pair of Metal Emeco Navy style chairs - Canadian made by Simmons Limited, Montreal

Yesterday was a great day! This darling pair of chairs came from a 'secret spot' from down around the way from us for $1. I love Canadian metal office furniture. Canadians seem to have taken the time to elevate small details of the design that really make a piece sing out. These steel chairs made by Simmons Limited of Montreal are no exception. The chair style seems to be very reminiscent of the aluminum Emeco Navy chair. But I think these chairs are so much cooler. They're more refined. The legs struts have a beautiful inner curve to them that really compliment finer gauge of the steel tubing that was used. The Emeco chairs look brutish by comparison. I also love their institutional paint jobs, peach & pale yellow. We'll probably take them to some chair bodyshop and have them sandblasted and repainted something else (any suggestions?). The seat pads will be an easy re-do and then they'll be sweeeet, and cheap. This guy wants $979.00 (per chair!) for something similar.

I would ballpark these chairs for being made around 1959. Simmons would go on to become a major international mattress company with their 'Beautyrest' line of products (below is a 1959 article).

Simmons has brought Canadian homes, hospitals, hotels and institutions a beauty and comfort never before known. The products made by the company cover the familiar range of merchandise for which it is famous, such as mattresses, beds, springs, pillows, cribs, Hide-a-Beds, sofas, chairs, and other dual purpose furniture. Nowadays it also includes an impressive range of metal furniture, for hotels, motels, hospitals and institutions, and furnishings for ships (berths, bunks) and for lumber and mining camps. Indeed, Simmons is the pioneer manufacturer of metal bedroom furniture in Canada. Every detail, no matter how small, receives careful supervision and inspection. The Simmons' products combine the strength and durability of steel with the beauty and distinctive charm of the furniture makers' art. It is a simple job to keep Simmons' metal furniture lustrous for years because it has no cracks or crevices, and metal in itself gives protection against mice, vermin, warping and twisting. 

I need more of this furniture in my life.

Pair of 60's Canadian chairs with Stainless Steel frame and Wood armrests

We scored this pair at the Renfrew Salvation Army (great place, great staff) for $5. I'm not sure what kind of wood the armrests are from but I would guess oak. I'm not sure if the upholstery is original or not, it remind me of some beach towels we used to have. Sadly there's no tags on them, but the mix of stainless steel and wood is really appealing.

 

Danish Furniture Importing Company Ltd. - Pair of midcentury modern teak dining chairs

Actually I'm not sure if these chairs are teak or stained oak, but the label says they were made by the Danish Furniture Importing Company Ltd.. Google didn't generate a single hit on this Toronto based company, but the chairs look mid-60's or so. They kind of faintly remind me of Hans Wegner designs. At some point they were reupholstered and one chair is missing a back slat. I assume they're dining chairs from their high backs. We scored them from one of our 'down-low' spots way west of Ottawa, $10 for the pair. I don't think they'll get used by us, as we already have the sweetest dining room set ever made by a Canadian in the last century (and to be featured here later this spring, so please check back!).

Primitive Modern red Canadian school desk task chair

I regret selling this chair through craigslist. We scored it at the May long weekend Fireman's garage sale in Golden Lake along with several other cool things this summer, it was $1. Somehow the proportions don't quite seem right, I think the seat base was a retro-fit onto a childs chair frame. The legs seem too big as well. I think it was because of all these that the chair worked so well. Also the cut-out on the back panel heightens its midcentury vibe.

$5 Eames fibreglass shell chair

Easy come easy go. We got this yellow Eames side shell chair for $5 from a now-closed thrift store in Barry's Bay. It had an old office supply sticker on its underside. Since then we had to sell it last year to a nice girl from Ottawa, oh well. I miss it though, it was comfortable

Arthur R. Ball Co. Ltd. pair midcentury Mad Men leather office chairs

 

This is the awesome set of chairs we scored last year at this killer thrift in Toronto at Dundas & Broadview. I could imagine these sitting in Don Draper's office, but for now they're in our offices. They're made by Arthur R. Ball Co. Ltd., of Toronto. Google didn't pull any relevant info on Arthur Ball, but these Canadian-made Danish-style chairs appear to be made of oak, and stained to a teak colour. They're construction is fabulous, there's lovely bentwood arms, and great little cutaways on the backs of the chair runners that really add a lot of sophistication. I love them, they cost $20 apiece.