By Knoll, Pierre Jeanneret
Located in Culver City, CA
One look at these chairs and you'll be OBSESSED. These original 1960s Model 92 Pierre Jeanneret scissor chairs are a lot like George Clooney ~ they're both hot in their 60s and somehow have managed to look better with age than the rest of the world.
Pierre Jeanneret was Le Corbusier's cousin and right-hand man for two decades, doing a wild amount of the actual genius-level design work while Corbusier got the magazine covers. (You probably know him from Chandigarh, the Indian city he basically single-handedly furnished, teak chairs, cane seats, the works.) But this chair actually predates all of that. Back in 1948, while Hans and Florence Knoll were touring Europe scouting new design talent, they came across this scissor base chair, a design that was entirely Jeanneret's own. They were so taken with it they licensed it on the spot and brought it to America as the Model 92 Scissors Chair. Knoll made this chair from 1948 to 1966. That's it. Eighteen years, then done forever.
This particular pair is from right near the very end of that run, circa 1965 -- which we know because of the Scovill zipper on the original cushions, a little hardware detail Knoll (and Herman Miller, and Thayer Coggin) used from the mid-60s through the 70s. It's basically a built-in birth certificate. So not only are these legit Jeanneret-for-Knoll chairs, they're some of the last ones that ever rolled off the line before this design got retired. Incredibly rare, even by rare-chair standards.
What's actually going on with these chairs:
We had the birch wooden frames professionally refinished but left the aluminum hardware completely alone; that soft worn patina is six decades in the making and we weren't about to buff out the only proof these chairs have actually lived a life. The original webbed straps are still on there too, original, unreplaced, with this gorgeous gentle fade that you genuinely cannot fake.
And here's the fun part ~~ you're getting TWO sets of cushions. The originals are this incredible avocado, tan, and forest green stripe that is so 1965 it should come with its own rotary phone and a pack of Pall Malls. They're still totally usable (the foam has gotten a little more dense over 60 years, because foam isn't immortal, but they're not falling apart, they're just... a little more firm). If you're a purist, these are indeed your grail.
That said, maybe avocado/tan/forest green isn't your design combo, and we totally get that. So we had a second set of cushions custom-made to spec in a soft oatmeal nubby cotton that'll effortlessly flex into any color scheme. The original cushions have the same kind of webbing / straps that fold over the frame and button down to secure them to the frames of the chair (so they don't slide around). We carefully, expertly removed them from the original cushions and installed them on the new oatmeal colored cushions. Should you want full 1965 energy instead, we're happy to move them back to the originals.
We don't believe in scrubbing the character out of a piece just to make it "showroom ready." These chairs have a zipper that tells you their birthday, a patina that tells you they were used, and straps that tell you they were loved. We fixed what needed fixing and left the rest exactly as time intended.
This is the chair that Hans and Florence stopped for in the middle of a road trip, and almost 80 years later it'll do the same thing to anyone who walks into your living room. We've currently got ours in the gallery alongside a Vladimir Kagan serpentine sofa, a Gabriella Crespi coffee table...
Category
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Knoll Furniture
