Scimitar Chair

Scimitar Chair by Preben Fabricius & Jørgen Kastholm for Bo Ex

The scimitar chair was designed in the early 1960s by Jorgen Kastholm & Preben Fabricius. The Scimitar chair received great attention in its early years and has been featured in several books. It had been shown as an excellent example of classic Danish design to architect and design students around the world.

Material & Feature:

Structure: #304 high grade stainless steel frame with brush finish

Back & seat cushion: high resilience, variable-density polyurethane covered with polyester fiber

Top Grain/Aniline/Vintage Leather Leather upholstery (C.O.M available)

All materials are Flame resistant & non-toxic (Baby Friendly)

Dimensions:

Width: 33" x Depth: 20" x Height: 26"

Seat Height: 15.5"

The original idea to the classic chair came to architect and professor Jørgen Kastholm more than 40 years ago.

It was while the furniture designer Jørgen Kastholm worked in Lebanon in the beginning of the sixties, he was first inspired to make a chair with architect Preben Fabricius. Together they designes Scimitar chair as a part of a line, of unique furniture, where many other pieces are also made by bo-ex furniture aps.

Having the chair manufactures, was at first an extremely difficult task.

The base which is created by pouring hot metal into 3 individual ceramic molds and then welded into this beautiful shape, was a big assignment, that even B&W (Burmaister & Wain Shipyard) amongst others turned down. The architects finally got in contact with Ivan Schlechter, who agreed to take on the production and the chair was first shown to the public in 1963 at an exhibition at Copenhagen Museum of Industrial Arts.

The Scimitar chair received great attention in its early years and has been featured in several books. It had been shown as an excellent example of classic Danish design to architect and design students around the world.

The chair has not been in production since 1984, but has now been brought back from its somewhat anonymous existence by Gert Auhagen, owner of bo-ex furniture aps, who carefully and with precession was restored the orginal base, and is now ready to be produced again.

materials:

leather - vegetal or aniline wax

duplex stainless steel

size: w 83 x d 69,5 x h 66 cm

seat level: 39 cm

This incredible 'Scimitar' chair by Preben Fabricius & Jørgen Kastholm was made by Ivan Schlecter in the 1960s, this example is signed on its stainless steel lower frame with the Ivan Schlecter logo and 'Stainless Steel Danmark'. Rare and highly in-demand, this incredible lounge chair features a curved base inspired by the shape of the Turkish sword (scimitar) created with precision engineering that was ahead of its time when this was made, and a gorgeous floating black leather seat.

Ivan Schlecter, Denmark, was the original producer of this design, which later was also produced by Bo-Ex. The signed Ivan Schlecter examples, like this, are the ones that are sought after by collectors.

Scimitar Chair - rare early production

The Scimitar chair or model '63 is designed by Preben Fabricius & Jørgen Kastholm in 1963 and is now considered an icon of Danish Mid-century Modern furniture design. The chair, which was first shown to an international audience in 1964, was the breakthrough for the designers.

The chair on offer is an early production chair from the 1960s made by the master upholsterer Ivan Schlechter. At the time, he was considered the most skilled leather upholsterer. He did, among others, the upholstery of Poul Kjærholm's furniture.

The chair is in original condition with the original hand-sewn leather and hand-cast stainless steel foot. The base is in excellent condition, the leather has acquired a nice patina and has some stains. Under the seat is a small tear with some loss of leather.

features

iconic Danish Mid-century Modern chair

manufactured by the famed master upholsterer K. Ivan Schlechter

fully handmade

very rare early production - circa 1960s

it is believed that Schlechter made fewer than 150 of these chairs between 1963 and 1984

original patinated leather & polished stainless steel base

manufacturer’s plaque attached to the underside of the seat

dimensions

height: 70 cm - depth: 74 cm - width: 82 cm - seat height: 38 cm