Last year we found this beautiful article, Asian Fusion, featuring the home of Rirkrit Tiravanija. What is particularly interesting about Tiravanija's home is that while sitting in Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand), he and his wife have populated it with many MidCentury pieces, including the chair above: an Eames shell chair with wooden dowel legs (BTW - the lamp is George Nelson and I think the desk is as well)....
This is not a version of the shell chair that you see very often, and I happen to like it more than the typical wire base, which is heavy and less organic. The best wooden dowel base shell chairs are vintage and were made by Herman Miller (they now make them out of polypropelene), but you can buy new ones in fiberglass from Modernica (they were original manufacturers as well). I have included all the links below. Thank goodness that DWR hasn't decided to sell these yet, as they retain their unique look and feel.
The original shell chair comes now has many options: many colors, comes in either side or armchair configuration, has a swivel or a fixed base option, and the wood of base can be maple or walnut. I recommend that in addition to considering these are VERY WELL priced side chairs with a great design pedigree, you check out the Times Article with Jason Schmidt's lovely pics.
New
Vintage (not always in stock!)
>> 1st Dibs
Here's a pic I took of them in Los Angeles in their high stool form at Shima!
(Re-Edited from 2008-03-17 - mgr)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
What is that wall? I love it! The cool (in every sense of the word) color, the vertical lines, and the chunky rectangles. I understand this is Thailand, but really, what is it?
view MaeEast's profile
MaeEast...that was exactly what I wanted to know. Forget the MCM, that wallcovering is spectacular.
view jacasi's profile
Me three! Please, AT, tell us what the wall is!
view dtremit's profile
OK, I want to know abou the wall too. (Wallpaper?) (Bamboo panels??)
But I want to interject, I think I disagree with the preference for this version of the shell chair. Fiberglass is far form organic, so to me the metal legs are more in keeping with the aesthetic and with the materials. I find the wooden legs seeming as though they belong to a different piece of furniture. It feels a bit strange to me.
view SherryBinNH's profile
"...Modernica (they were original manufacturers as well)"
Are you sure about that, Maxwell? I see this bit of information thrown around a lot as thought it were fact, but the truth is much more complicated than that.
Also, I can't understand why you've neglected to include a link to the current, LICENSED manufacturer of authentic Eames shell chairs, Vitra. The dowel-base chair (DSW) is still in production!
http://www.vitra.com/en-un/home/products/eames-plastic-side-chair-dsx-d/
I'm not going to enter a debate about real v. fake right now, but I think it would at least make sense to link to the current, licensed version of this chair in the context of the post. It just seems totally unfair to only link to Modernica and vintage sources, and to leave Vitra, Herman Miller, and the Eames Office out of the picture completely!
view Anna at D16's profile
Fact Check Please
view EDavid's profile
i dont think the Vitra made DSW chair is for sale here in the U.S. thats probably he suggested Modernica
view cscamp20's profile