We got a tip from ebrown about a good Hans Wegner wishbone chair knock-off.
At only $229, unless it is light as a feather, we cant see that much different from the real thing (and we know from wishbone chairs…).
Since their recent comeback we’ve seen wishbone chairs used a lot, even grouped as dining chairs, which is quite chic, and now maybe a little more economically realistic.
Where is this chair available for $229?
Mason-
Click on the picture of the chair to be taken to the website where you buy the chair.
errr...actually, not the pic. Click on the colorful words that say "Hans Wegner wishbone chair knock-off"
(but thanks for the helping hand, Nadine!!)
-Alec
Some of the proportions on this chair look a bit off compared to the real one. A real one costs about $500 is made in Denmark at the original factory with sublime attention to detail and craftsmanship. The wood of this knock-off is clearly a cheap pine rather than the very solid and incredibly beautiful white oak used in the most common version of this chair.
The workers in Denmark are paid a comfortable salary and the designer (Hans Wegner, who is still alive at 90-something) gets just credit for this amazing design.
Shame on anyone for supporting such a blatant knock-off by purchasing it. May it crumble, split and unravel within five years rather than last a lifetime like the original.
Caveat Emptor.
P.S. I bought mine for $250 each on e-bay; just be patient and you won't have to spend $500 for a new one, or $229 for a crappy knock-off.
The Wisteria chair is made of oak and made in China. It is not a line by line copy of the Wegner chair, and doesn't claim to be; the legs, for example are different. Wisteria does credit Hans Wegner for his design. What is interesting about the wishbone chair is that Wegner was "inspired" by Chinese Ming chairs. One could make an argument that Western cultural appropriation is called inspiration rather than theft because the West won the industrialized capital war. I suppose one could also argue that it is better that a western worker earn a comfortable salary making a chair "inspired" by chairs of the Ming dynasty, than that a Chinese subsistance worker make any wage at all, and I certainly will make that argument when I can assure anyone who cares that there is nothing that I wear, eat, or use that is not made by a high wage Westerner.
ooooops. No one in the United States could eat at all if it was a requirement that the laborers in the field and packing houses were paid a "comfortable" salary. I'm just saying.
Yeah. I gotta agree that Hans Wegner's chair is a bit of a refined knockoff of the horseshoe chairs. So I wonder just how close his design might be to one he spotted dating from antiquity?
So it's kind of a knockoff of a knockoff?
And that Wisteria gives credit to him and explains this comes from China, I really think this one doesn't require the spewing and hexing on it.
That might not be the case in all design knockoffs, mind you.
Our company, House of Copenhagen, www.houseofcopenhagen.com currently runs a special offer for Wishbone chairs at $375 with the purchase of min. 4 chairs. They are ORIGINAL, manufactured in Denmark by the only manufacturer in the world, Carl Hansen, that holds the license to manufacture the Hans Wegner Wishbone chair. They come with the Carl Hansen label, so they are guaranteed to be of superb quality and value. Why would anyone buy a knock-off at $229?
You need to look out for the wood that is used in the knock-offs. The wood bending process that is required for the Wishbone chairs takes a lot of effort and experience. Only top quality wood can be used for a long-lasting result. If wood of a lesser quality is used, the chair is not going to last. We see several original Wishbone chairs that are over 40 years old and they are still in good shape.