Free local delivery within 50 miles of any store The price promise is for all our products including the famous brands we sellAs of this weekend, it is against the law in the UK for furniture dealers to sell replicas of iconic pieces. Say goodbye to cheap imitations of such classics as Arne Jacobsen’s Egg chair, the plastic S chair by Verner Panton, and the Eames range. The copyright rules expire 70 years after the designer’s death, which leaves lovers of midcentury pieces with several decades still to wait for knock-off versions. Buying the authentic pieces themselves – or others from the same era – doesn’t have to cost a fortune, though. Savvy shoppers are rising to the challenge of finding true unadulterated originals at a fraction of the price. has seen a 30 per cent annual increase in the number of active searches specifically for retro furniture. “In the past, many people bought second-hand furniture because it was all they could afford, but now they search for these heritage designers to buy one-of-a-kind, sophisticatedly designed pieces, crafted from high-quality materials, making a good investment for the future.”
The pieces remain affordable, though. A Fifties lounge chair with its original green mottled fabric, which was listed with an estimated price of £20 to £40, sold for just £1. Even after adding the buyer’s premium – usually around 10 to 20 per cent of the hammer price, plus VAT – it’s still a genuine steal. A Danish teak bureau with an estimated price of up to £100 was snapped up for £20, while a classic red leather wingback lounge chair on an aluminium five-star swivel base sold for £30, well below its £80 estimate. These days, most vintage and retro retailers have an online shop as well as (or instead of) a showroom, with new stock posted every day, so you don’t even have to pound the streets to find the perfect addition to your home. Browsing online is a good way to get a feel for prices and quality before parting with your cash. You can also set up alerts to be notified after an auction how much an item eventually sold for. Sandrine Zhang Ferron left investment banking to start Vinterior, a curated online marketplace selling vintage and design furniture, after she spent three months traipsing around shops and scouring eBay and Gumtree to furnish her home.
“The online photographs were really bad, and you had to take a chance with the seller and the real condition of the furniture,” she says. It also frustrated her that the listing rarely included information about the history of the item. Vinterior showcases 6,000 items of stock hand-picked from professional dealers and interior designers who know the provenance of each piece. The details usually include the condition, country of origin, and manufacturer, often with a stamp to prove it. Prices start under £100 and delivery is available worldwide (vinterior.co). The available items change from day to day, but recent stock includes six bar tables by Benchairs of Somerset in beech and Formica, from the Seventies, priced at £75 each, which were previously owned by the Central London Masonic Centre. The website also featured an iconic Nucleus leather armchair on a chrome base, from the Sixties or Seventies, by British manufacturer Tetrad, suppliers to Harrods and Heal’s, for £380.
The chair has recently been reissued by the company in Harris Tweed for around £900. “People are bored by contemporary furniture, where they all end up owning the same thing,” says Zhang Ferron. “Ikea is convenient and fairly priced, but people are looking for craftsmanship, quirky pieces and longevity, regardless of their budget – although, even the wealthy like a bargain.” As well as the design pedigree of these items, they have an added charm from the fact that they have been cared for and preserved by a previous generation. Understated, well-made, practical furniture from brands such as G Plan, Ercol and Parker Knoll can create a statement in any room – and become a family heirloom worthy of being passed on to another generation. This is partly why there has been a rise in interest for pieces of local history, Zhang Ferron adds. “Mid-century furniture from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies is very popular from Scandinavia, Italy and France – but increasingly buyers are looking for British-made products.”
And if these price tags are still too high? It’s possible to pick up furniture for free via local Freecycle schemes, and charities including the British Heart Foundation will collect unwanted furniture to sell in their shops or eBay pages. Pull up a chair and get started. Eero Saarinen designed the groundbreaking Womb Chair at Florence Knoll's request for "a chair that was like a basket full of pillows - something she could really curl up in." This mid-century classic supports countless positions and offers a comforting oasis of calm—hence the name.Scroll to details for information. Retail price of current configuration: Estimated Delivery: 2-3 weeks Shipping & Delivery Info After winning the Museum of Modern Art Organic Design Competition with Charles Eames for their experiments with bent plywood in 1941, Eero Saarinen was eager to continue exploring the possibilities of a chair that achieved comfort through the shape of its shell, not the depth of its cushioning.
Initially, he began the investigation with designs for smaller fiberglass task chairs, but changed direction when Florence Knoll approached him and asked, “Why not take the bull by the horns and do the big one first? I want a chair that is like a basket full of pillows…something I can curl up in.” While that’s not exactly where Saarinen ended up, the suggestion inspired one of the most iconic, and comfortable, chairs of the modern furniture movement. Like many of Saarinen’s furniture designs, the Womb Chair required production techniques and materials still in the infancy of their existence. Saarinen and Florence Knoll found a boat builder in New Jersey who was experimenting with fiberglass and resin to help develop manufacturing methods for the new chair. Florence Knoll: “He was very skeptical. We just begged him. I guess we were so young and so enthusiastic he finally gave in and worked with us. We had lots of problems and failures until they finally got a chair that would work.”
Born to world famous architect and Cranbrook Academy of Art Director Eliel Saarinen and textile artist Loja Saarinen, Eero Saarinen was surrounded by design his whole life. By the time he was in his teens, Eero was helping his father design furniture and fixtures for the Cranbrook campus. After studying sculpture in Paris and architecture at Yale, Saarinen returned to Cranbrook in 1934. It was at Cranbrook that Saarinen met Charles Eames. The two young men, both committed to exploring new materials and processes, quickly became great friends and creative collaborators. They worked together on several projects, most notably their groundbreaking collection of molded plywood chairs for 1940 competition Organic Design in Home Furnishings, sponsored by MoMA. At Cranbrook, Saarinen also met Florence Knoll, who at that time was a promising young protégé of Eliel Saarinen. When Florence joined Knoll in the 1940s, she invited Eero to design for the company. Saarinen went on to design many of Knoll's most recognizable pieces, including the Tulip chairs and tables, the Womb chair, and the 70 Series of seating.