183 Avenue B

I’ve been obsessed with the design of the BKF #Hardoy “butterfly” chair since seeing one of the originals at #MoMA recently in the “Crafting Modernity, Design in Latin America, 1940–1980” show. Obviously one of the most copied chairs of the modern era. Only three of the original chairs from Argentina are known to exist, the one at MoMA, one at Frank Lloyd Wright’s #Fallingwater house in PA, and a third one that seems to have gone missing somewhere. Just about all of the others you’ve seen are copies, some authorized by #Knoll and hundreds of thousands of others of various quality that are still sold today. Most of them are bad imitations with weird proportions and folding frames. Notably, a saddle leather sling, and a solid, welded iron frame are signs of a good vintage one. I was shocked and thrilled to suddenly see this chair pop up on Facebook marketplace. I immediately recognized it as a high-quality antique and promptly grabbed it! Purchased by the seller at a Greenpoint thrift shop years back, he had in storage for a while. I was able to rehydrate, clean, and restore the leather back to a very respectable finish, but basically left it untouched except for one structural repair to the stitching that was needed. It’s got a lovely patina. After a few weeks, restoring it and oiling the frame. It now stands proudly in my living room. Probably one of the best pieces I own! It’s really hard to place an exact age on this, but I’m guessing it’s probably from the 1940s or 50s, curious if any of my fellow design geeks might know how to place an age on it more exactly. Not that I’ll ever sell it, I intend on continuing to slouch in it forever 😉