Monday, January 5, 2009

Thou Shall Recycle: Furniture and Fittings.

I fondly believe that when it comes to furniture and fittings, if you buy well, they can be also heirlooms; worth passing it down from generation to generation. Maybe not everyone enjoys a good piece of furniture or design piece, but I sure do. What happens when you love design and can't bear to see them being thrown away? You buy them second hand.

I am not talking of old junk yard pieces, like your grandpa's rosewood screens or sofas bought from ikea. I am talking about Cappellini sofas, Knoll tables, Louis Poulsen lamps, those are worth keeping and will retain a good amount of its value no matter how old it is.

For those out there that rather buy a cheap knock off, let me tell you, it is like carrying a fake Chanel. Somehow deep inside, you know that it is not real. The pride is all fake. Nothing beats knowing that you own the real thing. You need to be fair to the designers and their manufacturers. Every author needs his royalties to know that he is being appreciated and encouraged. If we were to support cheap knock offs, the designer doesn't get paid as much as he should, you wind up supporting a bunch of cheats and you don't get the quality or engineering that was specified by the designer. For short, it is very insulting and offensive.

Anyway, buying a good second hand piece, requires time to locate the pieces that you want. Then again, the fun is not in the prize, but in the hunt.


French Industrial table Lamp.


Murano Caged Milk White Pendant Lamp.


Louis Poulsen PH 5 Lamp


Louis Poulsen Snowball Lamp


French Industrial Pendant Lamp.


Mies Van Der Rohe Barcelona Chair and Ottoman.


Eames Rocker. The original ones have the molded seats made of fibreglass. The new ones by Herman Miller and Vitra are of molded plastic. The reason why they have stopped manufacturing the fibreglass ones was because when they were disposed, they were not good for the environment. That's why the fibreglass versions are now collectables.

By the way, this chair was designed by Ray and Charles Eames for Herman Miller to give away to their staff to congratulate them on the arrival of their new child.



Eames Molded Plywood coffee table.


Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman. Yes I will admit that I am a HUGE Eames fan.


Florence Knoll Setee.


Eero Saarinen Tulip Table and Chairs.


Where to find second hand furniture:
Lorgans the Retro Store - Beware, they have replicas too.

1 comment:

Furniture Manufacturer Melbourne said...

Hi there, awesome site. I thought the topics you posted on were very interesting. I tried to add your RSS to my feed reader and it a few. take a look at it, hopefully I can add you and follow.