CANING CANADA
&
VINTAGE CHAIR CANADA
Seagrass Woven Chair Weaving
Seagrasses are the only flowering plants able to live in seawater and pollinate while submerged.
They often grow in large groups giving the appearance of terrestrial grassland or underwater meadow.
The seagrass used in chair weaving comes from Asia.
The seagrass is twisted to form a green rope material when newly woven and will brown as it ages.
Seagrass is a courser and more rigid material than the Danish cord material.
The diameter of seagrass varies drastically within a coil. Because of this, the number of wraps can vary between chairs, and the pattern can have gaps if woven in the rushing or envelope weave.
It tends to sit more proud and offers beautiful tones in the twisted grass.
Seagrass can be woven in different patterns, as shown above; however, many chairs are designed to accept a specific gauge or size of material and pattern.
Some exceptions to this rule are ladderback chairs and stools.
Giovanni (Gio) Ponti Woven Chairs
Giovanni (Gio) Ponti - 1891–1979
1927 - The Cassina brothers founded their company, Cassina, in Meda, Italy.
1935 - The company was renamed Figli di Amadeo Cassina.
1951 - Cassina produced Gio Ponti's first Model 646 Leggera (light) chair, inspired by the light ladderback chairs with woven seats designed by Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi in 1807.
1957 - The birth of the award-winning Model 699 Superleggera (super light) was designed while Cassina was outfitting luxury ship liners with Gio Ponti. The chair weighed in at just 1.7 kg. The frames were produced at Cassina’s factory and then transported to Chiavari, where the seats were woven in cane by pieceworkers or seat weavers.
Borge Mogensen Woven Chairs
Armchair Model 157
Model 537 Oresund Chair
Chair J39
Børge Mogensen was born in Aalborg, Denmark, 1914 - 1972
He began his studies in furniture design at the Danish School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen in 1936.
Borge Mogensen made the concept of “Danish Modern” known worldwide.
Armchair Model 157
Mid-Century Børge Mogensen Armchair Model 157 woven in seagrass for Søborg Møbelfabrik 1954.
Model 537 Oresund Chair
Model 537 Oresund chairs were designed by Borge Mogensen for Karl Andersson & Söner, 1955.
These chairs stem from the first production period. The design was inspired by American Shaker furniture. It is made of oiled oak and paper cord.
Chair J39
This is Mogensen’s most famous chair. The J39 Chair earned the nickname ‘The People’s Chair’ for its simplicity and versatility in 1947.
The vision was to create high-quality functional furniture at a reasonable price to make the ideas of simple modernism popular among the people. Mogensen decided that the furniture should all be based on established cabinet-maker’s principles using local production without compromising on quality.
