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Monday, March 4, 2013

OK, I've Seen Some Pretty Cool Folding Chairs In My Day But This Set Might Be The Coolest...So Far. Even The Stenciled Label On The Bottom Is Awesome! Status: Available NOW At The Green Shag!

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After dropping by the thrift store Saturday, but before stopping at I Love Mr. Sushi for dinner, I managed to grab up this fine walnut folding chair and table set and stuff it into the back of Frank.  It was after dark so I wasn't able to shoot it just yet and had to wait until we got to the shop (Fleur De Lis - Home Source) on Sunday.

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The greatest feature these fabulous dining chairs possess?  You'd never figure them to be folding chairs

when open, if you didn't turn them upside down.  They're so gorgeous that I can't see why they'd ever BE

folded up and hidden away!  And just like the last set of vintage modern folding chairs I offered up and

sold at The Green Shag Market, when opened up they are as sturdy as any dining chair you'll find.

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We spent our Sunday at our shop Fleur De Lis - Home Source just in case we got a few stragglers from

a large sale up the street...but nobody showed.  It would have been disappointing except that the Flu was

slowly taking over my body and I just barely had the energy to set up and take these photos and the

photos of the art yesterday.  I'm not really sure I'd have had the energy to meet and greet a large number

of customers.   I'll be in the shop most weekends for at least a few hours though, so I'm sure you'll get an

opportunity to say howdy if you'd like.

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Check out how clever the engineering is on these chairs.  They even stand up on their own when folded.

And I love the floating seat detail.  The chairs seem to borrow a lot from certain Finn Juhl designs of the

mid fifties
and the caned backs remind me of another designer...I wanna say Paul McCobb but I'm not

sure.  Not that it matters, these chairs really stand on their own (no pun intended!).

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The seats are covered in a patterned vinyl that is in a pleasing neutral color and is pretty easy to keep

clean.  There is a pair of small holes in one of the seats that looks like a staple had gone through it at

some point.  Otherwise the seats are nearly perfect.  

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Unfortunately the cane backs on two of the chairs aren't so lucky.  These two need some help.  They

are fine as is but would look so much nicer if repaired properly.  The good news is that I now know

exactly where to buy this type of caning!  More good news is that it's less than a half mile from the shop

in St. Charles.  So I might try to fix this myself.  More likely is I'll get impatient and drop these and the

matching folding table off at my booth (#5) at The Green Shag Market as is and let the next new owner

decide if they need to be repaired.

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The table isn't as exciting as the chair set but it's very nice too.  The legs are solid walnut and have

an incredibly positive locking mechanism.  No wobbles.  The Stakmore company seemed to very

concerned with maintaining an illusion of in-articulated furnishings.  The table top is durable and easy

to clean Formica and the table is super heavy.  This is not a weak and wobbly set!  It's best described

as clever.

5 comments:

  1. That's a great set of Stakmore chairs. I had to pass on a set of 12, somewhat similar but different Stakmore chairs because the guy wanted $60 each.

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  2. Holy Crap. That's worth the drive to St Louis. Great find.
    Samma

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  3. Wow. That is a helluva set! Beautiful lines and ingenious design! Doesn't get any better than that!

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  4. I thought the Wonderfold chairs I had awhile back were pretty ingenious but these take the prize! Really nice lines and I love the caning on the backs. Why can't we still have such great ingenuity and manufacturing still here in the US?

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  5. That is some swell find right there.
    Diane
    Honey Stop The Car Vintage

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