George Nelson Vintage DAF Swaged Leg Lounge Chair

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George Nelson Vintage DAF Swaged Leg Lounge Chair

About the Item

George Nelson Vintage DAF Swaged Leg Lounge Chair for Herman Miller. This rare design was only in production for four years from 1958-1964. Conceived by Charles Pollack in 1954 for Nelson, this chair may be the most organic form ever produced by the Nelson's design team. The seat and back are constructed from fiberglass reinforced polyester which delivers the stiff, buoyant sit shared by the classic Eames fiberglass chairs-far superior to the inert soft plastic feel of current Herman Miller reproduction versions. The more radical lounge chair pictured here has never been reproduced. Despite it's delicate, complex appearance, chair is structurally resilient. The back and seat are firmly attached to one another and the swaged legs firmly lock into place delivering rock solid support only enhanced by downward pressure. The articulated back which floats away from seat provides airflow and comfort flex lacking in the Eames fiberglass chair family. This example has a freshly re-chromed base. The feet are hard nylon custom-fabricated glides built up to echo profile of original expansive vinyl feet. The seat and back have been sanded, primered and then painted in ultra durable two part catalyzed auto paint. The finish is wet-sanded by hand and polished for a deep wet look in a dolphin shade of light gray blue befitting it's porpoise like form. This chair, much like the Eames chairs also produced by Herman Miller was rarely painted as were similar fiberglass chairs by Knoll. We took liberty with the restoration as the fiberglass was irreparably stained. The exuberant form of this chair-in our opinion-lends itself to a professional wet look gained from the same kind of paint applied to Bertoia's fiberglass chairs similarly finished for Knoll in the fifties. The smooth finish also allows one to slide into the comfort zone and easily shift one's weight once settled in.

Creator:
George Nelson (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 27 in (68.58 cm)Width: 28.5 in (72.39 cm)Depth: 22 in (55.88 cm)Seat Height: 15.25 in (38.74 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
1958
Condition:
Please see other items in inventory to gauge dealer quality control.
Seller Location:
San Francisco, CA
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU8615873605

Shop All George Nelson

George Nelson

Architect, designer, and writer George Nelson was a central figure in the mid-century American modernist design movement; and his thoughts influenced not only the furniture we live with, but also how we live.

Nelson came to design via journalism and literature. Upon receiving his bachelor’s degree in architecture from Yale in 1931, he won the Prix de Rome fellowship, and spent his time in Europe writing magazine articles that helped bring stateside recognition to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Gio Ponti, Le Corbusier and other canonical modernist architects.

In the 1940s, Nelson wrote texts that suggested such now-commonplace ideas as open-plan houses, storage walls and family rooms. D.J. De Pree, the owner of the furniture maker Herman Miller, was so impressed by Nelson that in 1944 — following the sudden death of Gilbert Rohde, who had introduced the firm to modern design in the 1930s — he invited Nelson to join the company as its design director. There Nelson’s curatorial design talents came to the fore.

To Herman Miller he brought such eminent creators as Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, and the textile and furniture designer Alexander Girard. Thanks to a clever contract, at the same time as he directed Herman Miller he formed a New York design company, George Nelson & Associates, that sold furniture designs to the Michigan firm. Nelson's studio also sold designs for clocks to the Howard Miller Clock Company, a manufacturer that was initially part of Herman Miller before it became an offshoot that was helmed by Howard Miller, D.J. De Pree's brother-in-law.

Nelson’s New York team of designers (who were rarely individually credited) would create such iconic pieces as the Marshmallow sofa, the Coconut chair, the Ball clock, the Bubble lamp series and the many cabinets and beds that comprise the sleek Thin-Edge line.

For dedicated collectors, as well as for interior designers who look beyond “the look,” there is a “cool factor” inherent to vintage pieces from George Nelson and others. Nelson was in on it from the start, and it’s valuable to have a piece that was there with him.

But still, as is evident from the offerings from dealers on 1stDibs, in any of the designs, in any iteration whose manufacture Nelson oversaw and encouraged, there are shining elements of lightness, elegance, sophistication — and a little bit of swagger. George Nelson felt confident in his ideas about design and didn’t mind letting the world know.