Furniture

Having moved from a one bedroom flat to a 4 bedroom house, I've become interested in furniture. Chairs in particular. I have a large 3½ seat leather sofa that's very comfortable, but needed something else.

Having seen a 'Le Corbusier' chaise at a client's home and Poul Volther chairs in the reception of an advertising agency I worked for I rather fancied something that shouted style (rather loudly). Originally I planned on a Le Corbusier chaise in 'pony' hide (actually cowhide) like this.

It looks rather lovely don't you think? But regrettably buying one proved to be a very difficult task. There is something rather strange about British businesses, they just don't seem to care!  I found a company (ADL Contract Furniture, a complete waste of time) close to where I lived and tried to place an order for a chaise, but their website wasn't responding. So I called and placed the order with a rather unfocussed person. Months went by and delivery dates passed with no sign of the chaise.  Eventually the company cancelled my order with no reason.  I can only assume they never had the item and couldn't find one to sell at a profit.

In the meantime I fancied a white Natuzzi style chair with a swivel base. I placed an order and waited 2½ months.  After the chair had been dispatched I discovered that they couldn't supply the chair in white leather, as I requested, so they decided to send cream instead.  Thanks a lot guys. I never actually saw the chair though, as they sent it to the wrong address, 150 miles away!

The next attempt to buy a Corbusier chaise was, if anything, even worse.  I placed an order with a really nice woman, Tina Mahony. I don't like to make bad jokes at the expense of someone's nationality, but I really should have known better than to trust a kiwi.  After a lot of calls and promises, one morning a huge box arrived with my chaise - and guess what? They sent the wrong colour and type of leather. It seems Tina Mahony wasn't actually selling any furniture at all. All she did was take my credit card details and pass then on to a third party, a company based in London that did everything from placing the order to delivering the goods.  Tina just pocketed a nice percentage from taking the phone call.  However, she made a mistake when passing on the order details (due to a lack of any thought or logical, rational ordering system)  and I ended up paying a fortune for a cheap low grade leather.  I went completely mental, think Jack Nicholson in the Shining.  It took forever to get the item collected; even longer to get a refund.  I still long for a Le Corbusier chaise, but I fear that if I try to buy one again (in this country at least) I'll just be inviting more pain, and there's a strong possibility that I'll have so many bad memories from trying to buy one that owning one will be a huge anticlimax.

Interestingly, almost a year later, in July 2007, I received an email from Tina Mahony saying that the 'information' above is inaccurate and libellous; that she's going to see a solicitor and move forward with litigation against me.  I would say this more than anything shows the kind of woman she is.  Here is some information for Tina's solicitor.

Tina advertised a Corbusier chaise on ebay, took my credit card details and then acted as a 'middle man' - calling the company and giving them my card details and address along with my order. There was a period of time where I either spoke with or had email exchanges with Tina. These discussions included issues where the company didn't have any Corbusier chaises in pony hide; where the company had found a chaise but then when they looked at the hide it was 90% black; that they were getting some more pony hide chaises and the price I was charged was too low but that they would honour the price, and so on. The chaise I was sent was a low grade black leather (they have standard, premium and supreme), that was on special offer at the company that processed and delivered the order at the time.  The company eventually refunded the cost of the chaise on my credit card.  I consider that Tina 'tricked' me into giving her my credit card details; I effectively gave her all the details she needed to make purchases with my card. The employees of the company - including one of the directors -  claimed that Tina was not an authorised reseller for the company and their opinion was that Tina had not given the correct information at the time the order was placed.

Another update. I've had a call from one of the directors of the company Tina used (now removed at their request). He says that Tina was authorised to sell their furniture at the time I placed my order. Of course I can only accept that this is true, even though I was told otherwise at the time of the incident. For everyone's benefit,  these events are posted on my website as a warning. If you buy goods over the internet be very sure you know the company you are dealing with is reputable and honest. Too many people are box shifting goods and have no interest in the customer. As for buying on ebay, my particular experience should be a warning. If the seller has a low feedback profile, buyer beware.

After the Corbusier fiasco, I wanted a chair with excellent design and style.  One I found was in South Africa, a company called Klooftique. They make some truly wild designs; would you for example like  your chair in buffalo hide, or perhaps ostrich or zebra?  This was the design I liked, the Chrome

However when I called they never answered the phone or there was an answering service, so I never found out just HOW expensive a zebra skin Klooftique Chrome chair would be.

In contrast, dealing with companies in the US is so pleasant.  I know not every US company has great customer service, but in general they really try to keep customers happy.  I can't wait to move there actually. This leads me to my next purchase.

Science fiction often has some great touches of style, in clothing, technology and elsewhere. Apparently the air blower hand dryer was first seen in an early science fiction movie. What clothing will people wear in the future. How will they communicate?  Who would have imagined cellular telephones 30 years ago? Or how the internet and computers would change our lives and the way we do business? And of course, in the future, what will people sit on?

 So, lying back watching the Aeon Flux movie, I had a flash of inspiration.  Trevor Goodchild and his 'council' are discussing the Monican threat, and they are sitting on Pierre Paulin ribbon chairs. The same chairs were featured in Gerry Anderson's science fiction show, Space 1999.

I decided this was the chair I had to have. Well, that was until I discovered the price. On average a Pierre Paulin ribbon chair will set you back in the region of $6000 (yes, six thousand dollars).  For this you get a stretch wool fabric. To paraphrase Joan Cusack in the movie 'Working Girl', '$6000? It's not even leather!'  I think for the price I'd have enjoyed a nice raw silk or similar fabric.

The internet offered me plenty of choice of rather hideously covered ribbon chairs for $5000+; Artifort in Europe makes the original Pierre Paulin design.  Nothing on ebay, but eventually I found a company selling an obvious copy of Pierre Paulin's design.  Zuomod.com have a chair called the Velocity that's close enough to the original design for me to be happy with. In some respects it's even an improvement on the original design; the Velocity chair has a round base with a swivel mechanism.

As Zuo Modern don't have European distributors I ordered mine from the USA. This almost doubled the cost of the chair, once shipping duty and tax were added, but it was definitely worth it.  Compared to the totally disinterested attitude of British companies, the US company was excellent. They shipped the chair quickly, Bax Global notified me when it arrived in the UK, and 4 or 5 days later (including a weekend) Barry the truck driver from Bax knocked on my door with a big box containing my chair.  It is an extremely telling statement when I can order a chair from the USA and have it delivered faster than an AC power adaptor from a UK company.

Here is my new chair, being admired by my large orange lumibear.

Other chairs I really like include the Ox Chair by Hans Wegner below

The totally wicked 'Villain Chair' below, a snip at around £3000.  If you've ever fancied yourself as a 'Bond Villain', this is the chair for you. Plot your diabolical schemes from the comfort of this chair, and scream 'NO MR. BOND, I EXPECT YOU TO DIE!' at appropriate (or inappropriate) moments. The Eames lounge chair doesn't cut it after sitting in the Villain Chair.

Do you know of any superb designs that I've missed? If so please let me know! If I like them I'll put them on my website. Who knows, I may even buy one!