Whenever I go to Commercial Drive in East Van, I usually drop into to this 60's retro furniture store called Attic Treasures. Apart from having a lot of kitsch knick-knacks from that era, they have some cool, modernist Scandinavian furniture. I needed a bookshelf, as well as a sideboard for storage, so I picked up a Danish teak piece of each. Tired of my small oak table and chairs I eventually purchased a nice teak table with expandable leaves at the same place. I could now have dinner parties of more than four people.
However, I still needed similar chairs to go with it. They had some at the store as well but they were too expensive. I searched online and found a set of four that I liked. The man who sold them to me (at a good price) told me they were designed by Poul Cadovius, a famous Danish interior architect and furniture designer, and that they were from the late 50s - early 60s. The only problem was that the woven chord that makes up the seat of the chair was starting to fray after 50+ years. He told me he wanted to re-weave them himself but eventually gave up for lack of time and put them up for sale. He showed me a link he found on the internet that had a video showing a step by step way of weaving the Danish chord as it is called. I decided to take them and later purchased four bundles of the chord, a three strand paper product, at a bamboo store near Chinatown. It seemed a bit complicated looking underneath the chairs and, even with the encouragement of my neighbours, Carlos and Carolina, who offered to help me, I left it for almost a year until two of the chairs were fraying so bad you could no longer comfortably sit on them. It was time to carefully look at that video again.
The above photo is one of my same chairs but in excellent condition. They are made of either walnut, rosewood or teak or a combination of said types of wood which, I believe, is the case for mine. The chord goes underneath and is held on by L nails that you wrap around. It is done in three parts, first the front and back needs to be wrapped around. This I found difficult especially because you had to deal with holding the entire bundle of chord and go around each time. I later measured out the length and cut the appropriate amount. Then you have to do the warp strands, the front to back chords that will support the perpendicular weave. Finally the weave itself. It was tricky, especially the first chair but then I got the hang of it. It took about 4 hours to do one chair and I was pleased to revive them in a condition that will last as long as I own them.
I researched a bit more on Poul Cadovius and learned that he also designed what is called the "Royal" shelving system. It's a flexible furnishing system that uses a variety of combinations from a set of standard elements. They are very modernist in appearance but are still relevant and look amazing. I only wish I had a house with a large room. Here are a few examples.
