apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I *love* these chairs. I blogged about them back in March when my husband and I were struggling to find something stylish and affordable for our new apartment. I called up Kurt Peterson (the man himself!) and he was super friendly, answered my questions and shipped us our chairs quickly. We absolutely love them. They seem to be everywehere now! Some additional pictures of them in action here and here.

This is so odd! I happened upon these lovely bentwoods by accident and had just exchanged e-mails with Mr Peterson. I am in love with the armed chairs but unfortunately the shipping charges are prohibitive. I was both dreading and looking forward to these chairs being discovered by AT readers... I thought: These will sell out before I can afford to by some... and then I thought... maybe the shipping charges will go down?

over at sfgirlbybay.com she says you can find some similar ikea chairs - the olga for $30 - i quickly searched their website and didn't find it, but terry, you might be able to afford this look after all?

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90091722

hope this helps..

That Ikea chair is made out of that gross plastic that they make park benches out of. It's really uncomfortable and unpleasant in real life. Too bad, cause it looks pretty decent...

I find it very interesting that a man who finds his own name important enough to include in the name of his company is knocking off chairs named for someone else.

patrick (the other one) - For someone with the audacity to have been named for someone else (!), you do seem obsessed by the concept of "knocking off." Given the negative connotations associated (by most people, and by you in past postings), you seem to be suggesting that Petersen's copying of an old design is somehow inappropriate or unethical. Is that really what you mean to suggest? The Thonet No. 18 design is more than 100 years old. Thonet died almost 140 years ago. Exactly how much time must pass before it's OK to copy elements of design (or even entire designs)? Would casting a Doric or Corinthian column in plaster (or even carving one in marble) be a "knock-off," or would that be OK? And if you're thinking this is an issue of attribution -- that Petersen ought to be describing the chair a "Thonet" design -- then you have a point. But for better or worse, trademark law makes that a risky proposition. (There's still a "Thonet" company that "knocks off," as you call it, or rather "produces," Thonet's original designs.)

It's a great deal - and a great chair. Patrick is right of course (I think it was more of a wry observation than a dismissive critique). I mean if Kurt Petersen made a dining chair of molded plywood and chrome steel that looked just like the Eames' DCM it would still be a knockoff.....but if it were $100 I'd also be ordering half a dozen.