i thought that i would go for the trifecta today!
three in three.
it seems that my friends have coined me with the name 'queen of the roadside'.
and it's not got anything to do with owning an alfa romeo!
i love hard rubbish collection week.
adore it.
it is incredible what people chuck out. along with the stained, crusty old mattresses (really? you really had them in your house up until this week!? ewww!) there are some amazing treasures.
exhibit one: a perfectly amazing vintage push bike. i happened to have a wicker basket that i bought on recent travels.
gorgeous!
but, it's exhibit two that made my heart race.
everyone has seen these amazing creatures, yes?
look at these.
original.
side. of. the. road.
A butterfly chair, also known as a BKF chair, is a style of chair featuring a folding frame and a large cloth sling hung from the frames highest points.
1938!
hardoy along with partners, antonio bonet and juan kurchan (hence bfk chair) developed the chair in 1938 for an apartment building they designed in buenos aires. on july 24, 1940, the chair was shown at the 3rd Salon de artistas decoradores exhibition where it was discovered by the museum of modern art. at the request of MoMA design director edgar kaufmann jr., hardoy sent 3 pre-production chairs to new york. one is in the MoMA collection and one is at the
frank lloyd wright house fallingwater, but no one knows where the third chair went.
the bfk was named as one of the best efforts of modern chair design.
(courtesy bfk)
side. of. the. road. folks!
so, i went to birdsall leather in mascot (sydney) and bought a couple of creamy coloured cowhides and some leather rope.
trying to find a pattern online was near impossible, so with some dodgy measurements, and an idea as to how it *should* look, i began cutting the leather.
hours later.
so comfortable!
i also made a couple of black canvas slip covers for everyday usage.
side. of. the. road.
do the gutter crawl. you could hit pay dirt.
jane xx
*trying to get 2 bfk chair frames into the back of an alfa romeo station wagon with 2 small boys already inside is a difficult, difficult task. however, there was no way in hell that i was leaving them behind!*
Jane!!! Your chair looks amazing!
ReplyDeleteI was driving past a council clean up the other day and you popped into my mind!
So inspiring!
I too am Queen of the roadside.
ReplyDeleteSo much of what is fab in our house was once thrown out as rubbish. As they say "someone's trash is someone else's treasure!".
Mt latest pickup: An australian oak Chaise Longue circa 1924 in PERFECT condition.
$26.00 in fabric later it is sitting in pride of place on my front verandah as my new favourite book reading spot.
And as for the Butterfly chairs! L O V E.
I grew up with some of those (we had 3) that my mum had picked up in hard rubbish and recovered in fab striped canvas. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree apparently......
It takes a creative brain to see the possibilites though.
Yes!!! Your daybed is gorgeous! So true about the apple/tree. Yesterday Mr5 spotted a 'parker-esque', splay legged sideboard on the side of the road. there was no way i could fit it in the car...and the hard rubbish trucks were at.the.next.house. i broke the news that it was going in the truck. forever. he sobbed the entire way home :(((( poor doomed child!
ReplyDeleteFabulous! Love your new hair also. xo
ReplyDeletethanks lovely lady xxx
ReplyDeleteI am soooo for this type of recycling! Wonderful! Have you SEEN what ends up at the tip? It's horrific. Keep prowling those roadsides, lady! :D
ReplyDeleteThat is bloody FANTASTIC! Oh how I miss Sydney council clean ups. I was quite the bin diver!
ReplyDelete