By Fred Lowen, Florence Knoll, Percival Lafer, TESSA Furniture Co
Located in Chattanooga, TN
Low profile meets high comfort without compromise with this T4 Lounge Chair & Ottoman Set. This particular T4 set is an early 70s release, and is designed by Fred Lowen for Tessa Furniture. Curved, bent-ply teak rails are the ideal frame to suspend the gorgeous leather cushions in a cozy, netted rope hammock. Stunning from all angles and crafted from the finest materials. This set is in excellent original vintage condition and we're certain you won't find a more sublime representation anywhere (if you can even find them). The hammock is like-new and provides all of the supportive capabilities it exhibited decades ago. This gently used set was clearly loved and pampered during it's earlier life. Our restoration team, of course, spent many hours detailing every inch and mitigating most of the blemishes on the teak frames. Only very minor, age appropriate flaws remain on the teak. A few small sections of canvas on the (non-viewable) reverse side of the leather cushions have small gaps where the stitching came loose.
We've had several 70s chairs and sofas over the years, and this T4 model is one of the most comfortable. The scoop style and high-back design cradles and supports the body all the way up to the head. The scoops allow your butt to sink down with a slight elevation of your legs. High enough for tall people to have head support, and low enough for short people to have their feet planted firmly on the floor.
This supple black leather is really the quintessentially perfect color for the style and tone of the teak frames. As tasteful and inviting today as it was 4 decades ago, the segmented, tubular ripple-style upholstery drips with texture and character. The leather has been thoroughly cleaned and conditioned. The color and texture are uniform throughout with no visible discoloration.
This set is from a long running successful Australian furniture design company which garnered several Australian design awards and became a household name. Established by Fred Lowen in the late 1960s Tessa made use of Australian timbers, engineered timbers and incorporated contemporary design trends in their furniture designs.
Tessa was an ambitious endeavor, scaling up production on demand, displacing smaller furniture manufacturers and exploiting export markets. Their heyday coincides with Fred Lowen's stewardship and a frenzy of award winning design output from the late 1960s to the late 1970s.
From its inception Tessa invested heavily in the tools and the people to produce goods of a superior build and finish. They also sourced the most productive partners to fabricate components beyond their means either technically or resource wise - in the process supporting other Australian industry.
In 1946 Fred Lowen (FL) set up a partnership with Ernest Rodeck (ER) - FLER. Lowen was supported in this early endeavour in 1948 when Fred Ward (Myer's staff furniture designer at the time) designed a wooden dining chair suitable for production in the Fler facility. An introduction to Lou Newton the furniture buyer for Myer completed the picture and Fler received an opening order for 500 chairs. The Fler SC55 from 1955 was the next big break with several interstate manufacturers licenced to produce them as well.
Tessa was established by Fred Lowen and his brother in 1968 after Fler was bought out. Tessa became the vehicle for some of Lowen's greatest designs which remained in production until June 2019. Lowen retired from Tessa in the mid-1980s.
T4 Chairs...
Category
1970s Australian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fred Lowen Furniture
MaterialsLeather, Rope, Teak
