Rare Race Furniture 'Flexible' chair by Nicholas Frewing

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Rare Race Furniture 'Flexible' chair by Nicholas Frewing

About the Item

Rare Race Furniture 'Flexible' chair by Nicholas Frewing. This is a very rare semi-upholstered occasional chair with nylon-coated steel mesh seat and back which hook into the laminated beech frame without screws or tools. Aniline-dyed leather arms have a webbing insert to prevent stretching. The Race flexible chair was developed by Nicholas Frewing at the Royal College of Art as a research project into ways of reducing the bulk and weight of the traditional chair, in which the rigid frame is not only heavy in itself but needs a great deal of upholstery to make it comfortable. Frewing decided that one way to overcome this was to develop a light, flexible frame and joints which would themselves give much of the springiness usually provided by the upholstery. The result is an entirely new method of constructing chair frames. The Flexible chair has many advantages. It is light (two polyether-filled cushions are the only upholstery needed) and portable. It will automatically adjust itself to any unevenness in the floor. It can easily be taken to pieces and re-erected, and can therefore be carried in the boot of a car or even stowed away in a cupboard when not needed. And it can be packed into a small carton. Frewing began work on the chair in 1961 and presented it as a finished design to Race Furniture Ltd in 1964. He chose this particular manufacturer because "they are not afraid of using wood and metal together and because this chair needs a high degree of skill and care in its manufacture". Race accepted the chair immediately "because this was the most interesting design we had seen for years". The company Race Furniture Ltd was started after the war by J. W. Noel Jordan and the late Ernest Race, and soon earned itself a name for pioneering good modern designs in an industry which was almost entirely traditional. The designer Nicholas Frewing began work on the Flexible chair after completing three years as a student in the furniture design school at the RCA, before going on to be a full time tutor. The two side frames of the chair are held together by the welded steel rod seat and back. Hooks at the corners of the seat and back slip over rods inserted into slots in the wooden frame, above left. Simple ties hold the cushions in place. The chair can be assembled in about two minutes and has been recently reupholstered by Race Furniture. Duke of Edinburgh's Prize for Elegant Design and the Design Centre Awards 1966. Chair comes with race archive photographs and instructions. Workshop report: Our workshop team inspect every product and carry out any needed repairs to ensure that everything leaves us serviced and maintained ready for many more years of life. All of our vintage products show the rich beauty and history of their life with the knocks and bumps of many years of use and we try to minimize restoration to keep every piece as original as possible.

Dimensions:
Height: 26.38 in (67 cm)Width: 24.41 in (62 cm)Depth: 24.81 in (63 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Beech
Place of Origin:
United Kingdom
Period:
1960-1969
Date of Manufacture:
1960
Condition:
Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Hook, GB
Reference Number:
Seller: 50021stDibs: LU4494222495782