Ramblings of a mid-century mad woman

Jaroslav Smidek 60's armchair history...

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 13:34:52 GMT

Type 53. Bentwood beech Designer armchair.

A little history on some beautiful iconic chairs I have in stock from the 1960s....

Jaroslav Smidek grew up in the Czech Republic as the son of a Furniture Dealer and Upholsterer before training to become an Architect. Jaroslav turned to Industrial Design where he developed self assembly furniture greatly advancing Czech furniture production. Like Jindrich Halabala Jaroslav designed for Ton, Tovarna Ohybaneho Natbytku, the Czech heir to Michael Thonet and one of the worlds oldest factories of bentwood furniture.

The type 53 bentwood beech chair was one of his designs representing the Brussels style formed after the incredible success at the famous Expo 58, Brussels World Fair 1958. This design has an elegant Scandinavian, Eastern European aesthetic while being fairly compact in size.

I have a single chair fully restored from the bones upwards in a beautiful honey mustard velvet as seen above and a pair unrestored just waiting for you to make them into your bespoke armchairs. Just get in touch to discuss bringing your restoration ideas to life.

Christmas is coming and the dining chairs are trashed!

0063904478 (KAREN BARLOW) — Wed, 10 Oct 2018 08:58:51 GMT

Dreaming of a perfect home with Christmas on the horizon….

With the thoughts of drinking lots of tea and snuggling up into an armchair in our perfect beautifully decorated homes during the winter months and over Christmas come thoughts of reality. The cat has shredded and scented grannies cosy old armchair and the kids have tipped half a bucket of Lego down the back. The old dining chairs are trashed from spilt gravy, baked beans, pasta sauce and pretty much anything runny that does make it to their faces. Sound familiar?

Well this is where David and I come in offering free quotes on restoration of your preloved furniture with advice and free fabric samples. With no VAT on top it's worth sending us some photos for a free quote to suit your budget. We can collect and deliver too so the hassle of trying to get six dining chairs or grannies armchair in the car is removed.

With 40 years in the upholstery trade David has a wealth of knowledge on all manner of furniture and if the wood looks dull and has baked bean juice dried on well I can clean up chairs with a special solution designed to clean, rehydrate and restore lustre. I can also blend in faded arms where hands have rubbed that polish away and scratches can be softened. We have restored so much furniture over the last 2.5 years together that I have lots of great before and after pictures as you can see in the couple I have attached.

Sat in my lounge I too am looking around wondering what can be done to make it look inviting and perfect for Christmas guests. I've already restored our inherited dining chairs, found and restored a vintage footstool that was falling apart but the perfect size and I'm currently hunting for a forever sofa. With the new Aquaclean technology from Ross fabrics we can even provide a cat proof fabric that is wipe clean so we can protect ourselves from those loveable mess makers in our homes.

Get in touch for a free quote and let's get you in the diary before Christmas is upon us!

Happy winter nesting.

Karen

Design - Restoration - Society

0063904478 (KAREN BARLOW) — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 11:31:30 GMT

Summer thoughts of design, restoration & society...

Summer arrived with an explosion of heat and after a busy start to year, which included a move to new premises, I am finally on holiday consuming my body weight in olives while reading a few interior magazines. Even when you are hundreds of miles away from work and in the perfect cottage garden you never really stop thinking about work when it’s a passion rather than a business. Time is spent snooping around a holiday rental looking at the décor and planning how you would decorate, then mooching in a variety of antiques shops. It certainly refreshes the brain and helps you look forwards. Back relaxing in the garden reading ‘Rise of the archives’ in Elle Decoration’s August issue I felt inspired and excited.

You may already know many big brand manufacturers are now offering iconic pieces of furniture from their back catalogues. The thought of what might be reproduced next is something I find very exciting. As people want authentic furniture, maybe, just maybe, we will start to move away from our throw-away society.

Poorly made furniture with a short life span and a sure-fire skip on the horizon, just seems like a total waste of effort and material. It’s an embarrassing legacy we will be leaving behind, and I don’t want to be associated with it or with the landfill it creates. We need to embrace the old and the new quality furniture worth spending our money on. I remember as a child saving all summer for a porcelain doll, our parents taught us to save for things we want, just as they saved up for their furniture and valued it.

Not wishing to sound all doom and gloom, how can I while eating olives in a Dorset cottage garden, but I am watching the upholstery recover business slowly dying off because of how we choose to furnish our homes. There are a lot less of that generation around that ‘bought well, owning well-made furniture worth recovering’, words my upholsterer David uses less these days. Today’s buyers, and this includes many people I know and maybe even you so please don’t be offended, aren’t purchasing from the old school manufacturers but from large showrooms offering sale prices all year round and 0% finance if required. Life is expensive and these offers can seem very tempting but by the time you’ve paid it off you may well need a new sofa and the cycle continues.

Some people are lucky enough to inherit a sturdy old sofa or chairs and with a simple recover it’s life span is endless. This is where you get your money back ten fold because unless you totally abuse the furniture it will last long past anything that was ‘on sale’.

You’ve got to ask yourself why this furniture is ‘on sale’ and is this really economical in the long run, never mind the environmental impact. I haven’t myself been lucky enough to inherit a good suite, I also refuse to conform, and I have a second hand one, perfect while the kids are still at home.

My partner and I have however have been lucky enough to inherit some good solid Danish furniture. With a bit of love & elbow grease its been rejuvenated. The old drinks cabinet now has a new purpose in the dining room as the tea cabinet.

Going back to the article I read, it speaks of design classics being an investment that hold value because these pieces of furniture are enduring and won’t go out of fashion. Our eldest daughter commented that Great Grandmas furniture looks so different and on trend now it’s in our house.

This is true in fact of many pieces of furniture we have had through our workshop. Art deco style and Jindrich Halabala chairs to name but a few. I currently have several pairs of fantastic chairs in stock for bespoke restoration and with the amount of work we put in they will only ever need a simple recover in the future. These would be a sound investment that can be handed down through the family.

Mid-century and vintage fairs are popping up all over the country now with more demand more people are sourcing and restoring furniture and as a seller it is a joy to be a part of these fairs. I am proud to be supporting this move back to quality furniture and being able to restore customers sentimental furniture, whether it’s a simple victorian wooden kitchen chair or a pair of art deco armchairs, it is a very rewarding job for both David and I.

While I finish off these olives I am thinking about my next project and what other exciting furniture will come my way this year. Watch this space, or social media or even why not come and meet me at The Vintage Home Show in Leeds on the 7th October. Alternatively, coffee, tea, conversation and a mooch are always available at my workshop and showroom if you are in Nottingham. Please get in touch it would be lovely to see you.