...Well, here goes.

I've decided I'd try to find some Thonet 209 chairs for me and my girlfriend's new house, but they are virtually impossible to find in Denmark. Widening the search to Germany threw up a number of possibilities, but buying furniture abroad is very much unchartered territory for me.

So, I was wondering if anyone on here had some leads? I know it's very different from what we usually discuss on here, but seeing how knowledgeable people on here are, I figured I might be lucky

For reference, these are the chairs in question:




It's pretty far from the teak "danish design" dining chairs that everyone seems to want these days, which probably explains why I haven't had any luck scouring the Danish sales sites...

 

Have you tried just asking Thonet themselves? Seems like it's still in production:
http://en.shop.thonet.de/residential/tables-chairs-barstool/range-209

As for purchasing from a source outside the US 1stdibs usually has a giant network, but associative exhorbitant prices.
DesignAddict forum is a pretty good resource for finding dealers.
Best of luck, they look lovely.

 

Oh yes, they are still in production, but we are both into vintage/retro furniture - and quite frankly, they are a bit too expensive to buy new!

 

If you stay in Copenhagen you could look in Malmö thonet is common in Sweden and whit some patience on the smal auctionhouses aprox 1200dkr for 4 chairs, normaly you should check the seats cause they are fragile and expensive to repair.

 

So mid-century furniture has been on a bent much like vintage watches - the originals and even slightly older examples are more expensive than just buying new.
I was in a similar situation as you when looking at a new bench and a few side chairs. Nelson and Eames LCW, respectively. Older examples of each were in the thousands, new ones were at list prices (minus the 10-20% industry discount I get). Ended up getting new examples.
Best of luck with the search.

 

Actually, the Thonet chairs haven't had the resurgence that we (in Denmark, at least) are experiencing with Danish mid-century chairs or French café furniture. I'm expecting them to be the on that next wave, which, IMO, will consist of Art Deco/Bauhaus designs, including some late 70s and 80s classics thrown into the mix. I've experienced that I have a pretty good nose when it comes to predicting these things, and this time I'll bloody well act on it!

 

To be fair it's not just Danish design I found this with but ALL 50s-70s era furniture. I was also thinking of purchasing some Saarinen and Aarnio furniture to replace the worn down stuff at my parents place - truth be told, I had a big hand in making those items worn down over the years. I found even their pieces (a few tables and chairs) in disrepair commanded prices 2-3x what new examples cost. So I told my parents to keep everything as investments.
It's just the nature of such items at this time - originality is prized above all for older items that have a recognizable designer.

 

The new eames chares are in plasic and old ones are in glasfiber so there is a big diffrence on production and as we al know, originals is moore fun.
The collector comunity on furniture are crazier then watch collectors and patina is everything,this opend the market for refurbishd furniture and a lot of frankens floating around on the high end market.
So both markets have a lot incommon original examples first edition from leading names are wery expensive and wery collectible.
If you look for old Alto furniture you probaly find some of the Danish names are cheap compared,
Sold two setts of doornoobs from Alto last year for 2200euro

 

I love those Thonet-style bentwood chairs. My parents had them, including a couple similar to the ones you want, none of which were genuine Thonet, I assume. The good news is, inexpensive copies are pretty common, unless you insist on the authentic, real thing, in which case you're still in a better position than I am. I inherited a set of six original rosewood Finn Juhl / Niels Vodder 108 dining chairs and a rosewood John Mortensen / Heltborg Mobler dining table from my grandparents. At one point I thought about adding two chairs, but discovered they would set me back at least $2,000 each if I could find them. New ones from Denmark would probably cost nearly as much (though there are cheaper Chinese knockoffs), and commercial furniture is almost never made with rosewood these days.

 

Wow! Finn Juhl is my favourite architect - absolutely love his work! You are a very, very lucky man to own those chairs, and as you say, they are hideously expensive/impossible to find, especially those from Niels Vodder, which are the early versions
Would love to see photos, if you could take a few

Thanks to @Skrotis (who should get an avatar, btw!), on whose advice I've broadened the search to include our Swedish neighbours.

This, btw, is pretty much my grail sofa:


(picture from www.juhlsbolighus.dk)

It doesn't have to be an older version, I'd be content with a newer, could be used, model. It's has the most charming design and is the most comfortable place I've ever sat. The back support is beyond what I've ever experienced anywhere else.

 

F Juhl is the king of Danish design in my opinion and P Kjerholm on second place.

Mozartman must be nice to have dinner at your place whit this furniture

if you ever visit Malmö there is a shop for used lamps on Balzargatan 19 (a 5 m walk from the Trainstation) if you ask they owner he might be able to help you whit vintage F Juhl chairs for a reasonable price.
The shop don't have any good furniture on display cause the burglary risks but the owner traded danish design to dealers for 20 years and have a nice stock and al the connections and like cash business.
you find vintage PH,Grossman, Triplex and C Dell lamps in the shop if not on display ask.

 

Thanks for that information. I'll visit that shop if I'm ever in Malmö, though I doubt he would ship to the US without a small additional charge. Meanwhile, I haven't had many over to dinner who were more interested in my furniture than my food or drink (maybe one or two people have commented on these chairs). As with watches, I think there are only a few who really notice.

 

Interesting that you are in the US! What does it say on the stamp/sticker? Are they US made by Baker furniture, or by someone else?

In Denmark, a lot of people notice things like designer furniture, but the whole culture here is more geared towards spending time in your own house (as opposed to going to pubs for a beer, as in the UK, for instance) and spending money furnishing your living quarters with good quality furniture... There is a lot of snob effect about it, too

 

The chairs have the inscription impressed into the wood: Cabinetmaker Niels Vodder Copenhagen Denmark Design Finn Juhl. The table has a label for Heltborg Mobler. My grandparents bought these in Denmark and had them shipped to the US. Yes, we have furniture and design snobs here too, but modern Danish is just one of many styles that interest collectors. Someone above mentioned Eames, and their lounge chair and ottoman made by Herman Miller is a famous design icon in the US. The interest in Arts and Crafts furniture by Gustav Stickley and others of the early 20th century has faded a bit, but I love it and own it. Baker is a decent American maker but they are known mostly for reproductions of historic styles.

 

D'oh, you already said they were from Niels Vodder
I know that Baker also produced furniture for Finn Juhl, hense my (stupid) question...

Eames furniture is also a rather hot commodity here, whereas the heavier Arts and Crafts designs and the such aren't in favour at the moment, and hasn't been for a long while. Yesterday my girlfriend and I watched a show about arts/antique dealers and it was mentioned that most of the beautifully crafted (historical) furnitures from our various palaces and mansions that were put on sale for the public ended up in foreign hands, as the Danes just aren't interested in them. A bit of a shame, really, but I'm not the one to buck the trend, either...

 

Interesting! Here, genuine original American colonial and federal period furniture from the 18th and early 19th centuries remains very valuable, and probably always will, with some ups and downs. Mid-century modern, whether Scandinavian or American, may fade a bit, as Arts and Crafts did, but in my opinion will always remain collectible. Like Speedmasters or Submariners!

 

I'm currently watching this closely:

http://www.lauritz.com/da/auktion/finn-juhl-laenestol-pelikanen/i4112347/

 

Took this photo of a book I was browsing yesterday while at my watchmaker's. Was looking for someplace to share it, and thought folks on this thread might appreciate it from a design perspective: a Soltronic quartz clock. I think it is a lovely design concept.