What To Look For When Buying Reproduction Furniture?

By Author: andru greal
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If you're in the market for reproduction furniture, you are joining millions of consumers who have in the past ten years "rediscovered" midcentury designs, and have led a surge in interest in all things midcentury from accessories to furniture.

As a result, popular furniture pieces such as the Barcelona chair and Eames lounge chair have become household names, along with the designers themselves. Appearances in movies and pop culture have served to solidify midcentury furniture pieces as "must have" items in everyone's home whether it's just a small piece such as a clock or an entire furniture collection. What should a buyer look for when shopping for quality midcentury reproduction furniture? The key considerations for a quality midcentury piece are craftsmanship, materials, and authenticity. Of-course once these criteria are met, then the final criteria would be pricing. Let's elaborate on each of these criteria, and review important details:

Craftsmanship: with the flood of discounted furniture from China and other countries, it is important to look for tell-tale signs of shortcuts made in the ...
... manufacturing process or to put it less politely, poor craftsmanship. In regards to furniture items, examples may be poor stitching in upholstery, scratches on wood or metal surfaces, overall unevenness, loose parts, etc. There are many examples of high quality mass-market consumer items being manufactured in China. Likewise, there are also many high quality furniture manufacturers in China who are paying careful attention to these finer details in craftsmanship. Considering that people are buying midcentury modern furniture to last a generation or even a lifetime, these finer details in craftsmanship cannot be overlooked.

Materials: there are various grades of materials used in midcentury modern furniture, mainly concerning the upholstered sections of furniture. Examples of lower-grade materials are polyurethane (PU) or bonded leather which are actually not very common in midcentury pieces but may be used by some big box retailers such as Wal-Mart or IKEA. Higher-grade materials are top-grain leather and aniline leather. Top-grain leather is more common in the furniture industry as it is more durable and widely available. Aniline leather tends to have a smooth finish (no top-grain) and generally feels softer. Aniline leather will usually add around 5-10% to the overall cost depending on the amount of leather used in each furniture piece. This does not mean that aniline leather is always more costly than top-grain leather. There are many licensed manufacturers such as Knoll (www.knoll.com) which produce high quality furniture using top-grain leather due to its long-term durability. When shopping for furniture online, it's a good idea to request leather or fabric swatch samples so you will know how the finished color will look like and how it feels.

Authenticity: this quality refers to the resemblance of the reproduction furniture to the original design. In the case of midcentury modern (MCM) reproductions, the original design may likely be more than half a century old, and the original design has been passed down through licensed reproductions and generic reproductions. Generally licensed reproductions adhere strictly to the original design specifications and manufacturing techniques although some refinements may have been introduced over the years. For example the popular Barcelona chair was originally produced in 1929 using a frame that was bolted together, but unbenounced to fans of midcentury modern, the design was modified in 1950 to use a seamless stainless steel Frame. A high-quality generic reproduction should have the same product dimensions, styling, and finishing details as the original or licensed version. A product dimension refers not just to the overall dimensions but also the thickness of seat cushions and other accessories. The styling refers to the overall design quality of the item and whether it looks and feels like the original design. And lastly finishing details refers to the features which are only apparent upon closer inspection, such as the type of screws or other fasteners used to assemble the item; or if the underside of an item has been finished properly.

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