Dumpsters...
Ok laugh if you dare. Or cringe. Great stuff is being thrown away every day. I have found lamps, accessories, picture frames even a mannequin. Many pieces are in excellent condition. Commercial and industrial bins are often best since someone will often go out of business or move...leaving things behind that the landlord will simply throw out.
Yard Sales /Garage Sales/Car Boot Sales...
The prices can always be negotiated. I find that in general you will pay about a third of what a thrift store sells things for.
Thrift Stores...
On the whole I find these places to be the best choice. Their stock has a high turnover ...so you can visit them once a week. Secondly they price most of their things by a fixed formula. A simple side chair is one price with arms...one without...a price for wood...another for metal and plastics.
The majority of the metal chairs are really cheesy cheap things...bought at Wal-mart perhaps 6 or 7 years ago...and are not worth more then $8 or $10 ...but the Marcel Breur B3 chair from 1925 meets the same description. Yes there are some real bargains to be had.
To get the best out of these places...I recommend visiting every week...and do at least 3 stores.
I have looked thru '1000 Chairs' a few hundred times...and a few other books that I will recommend later. So now I can spot a gem instantly...it takes me 5 minutes to check out the inventory of a store..then buy..or leave. So you do not have to invest a lot of time.
Mom and Pop Stores...
Small family stores occasionally stock a piece that is just too edgy for their every day customer and it eventually gets blown out. What's more, since you can talk to the owner you can negotiate a better price. I saw an 'orange slice' chair sell for $80.00...not a bad price for a used piece and this was new. (this chair is the background for our logo)
Building Supply Stores...
Great for classic industrial lamps. They also sell "metro stand" knock-offs. You may recall I mentioned them when I was talking about re-purposing commercial items.
Later on I will get into how you can make your own furniture with a few hand tools and by re-purposing pieces and bits of things already complete for their initial purpose..but become just a part in our original piece. There are serious designers that have become famous for this. This style is called ..."Ready Made."
Metro Shelves
Pier Giacomo Castiglioni 's Mezzadro and Sella stools
...note the bicycle and tractor seats
Flea Markets...
In most cases the proprietors of flea markets know their stuff ...many have a copy of Hebegger and Osman's Sourcebook of Modern Furniture ( a good book to own but pricey...and I find it misses a few obvious pieces). There are exceptions. The best thing to do is to go on the last day ...often Sunday...better yet the last Sunday of the month...and to show up a few minutes before closing with cash. You can haggle for a great price as the owner will have bills to pay and want cash.
Farm Supply Stores ...
I have found stainless steel buckets that make very hip waste bins or can be used as storage..and at $8 ... why not. They have very cool industial lamps...there is a lamp made to use an infra red bulb to hang over an animal pen and supply heat ...it is $20 ...the nice thing about it (besides its high quality) is that it can take a very high wattage of bulb...which in some applications is really needed. There are animal feeding troughs and bowls etc. perhaps they could be good for planters? You get the picture just look around and if somthing fascinates you...think of a re-purpose for it. So many things...all very well made...and often in production for decades...So they have that great vintage look.
Office Supply Stores ...
Stores that sell office furniture often take the customer's old furniture as a trade in. They also buy used pieces from bankrupt businesses. If they are in large metropolitan areas they are hip to what they have. Some places, often in small or industrial towns simply sell it off cheap...for they do not have a sophisticated market. All kinds of things can be used in a home office or re-purposed. I was at one just recently they had some heavy duty filing cabinets from the 60's in mint shape..and in a really nice tangerine orange for $20 each. Another time I found a table from a lunch room..also from the 60's. It was in a beautiful birch with steel pipe style legs..two of which had oversize caster wheels. It really was a gem...for $40. You can often find even good classic modern pieces that were from waiting rooms, board rooms, and reception rooms.
Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Supply Stores ...
There is a style from the 70's called ' High Tech' and recently a newer style called "Urban Industrial" the first took things literally from industry...the second scratch designed pieces.
I have seen pieces that were designed to look just like the shelving below,to be used in a bedroom to store clothing ....these pieces were from $2000.00 to $6000.00 . The "real" industrial shelving and bin units (shown here) come in all sizes some have choices of bin sizes and colours that will fit on the same rack.
Then there are places that sell used pieces. You can find work benches ,stools and all kinds of cabinets ... some vintage pieces are exceptional.
Institutional stores have great lab furniture in stainless steel and glass. Commercial stores have endless possibilities with store fittings...shelving..tables . The next time you are in a nicely decorated store, start looking very carefully at the furnishings and imagine how each piece could be re-purposed for your use.
Box Stores and any other Enemies of Good Design ...
On the whole I think you should stay clear of these places ...you may tend to make bad choices because some things are spot on..other things fit the description...but do not cut it. Once you have gone through the books and magazines that I recommend for about a year, you will be better informed...and hopefully can notice the detail that makes one piece look 'up market' and another just look cheap.
Case in point Wal-Mart sells some desks and computer stands in metal (usually painted silver) with glass tops. There have been some really classic vintage desks that were designed by designers like Le Corbusier and Norman Foster but most of the Wal-Mart desks just look cheap. A recent exception is Travada, a small desk with nicely shaped curved legs made in a double "S" shape and no superfluous decoration. It has a thick glass top..and is structurally reinforced using aircraft wire and turn buckles which is a nice touch as it gives it an edgy industrial look. The finish was silver paint...but had a small amount of mottling in it and the metal work was not perfect but passable. If repainted in a white or perhaps a primary red or yellow...it could be a knockout...at $100.00 it is a bargain...in fact the glass top is worth the price they are charging. They have several other similar choices and their general description would make them sound just fine...but!!! Sorry they just did not make the cut. They all have too many minor flaws in either their design or construction.
.... In a later article I will show you how to paint metal objects like lamps, chairs and yes...the Wal-Mart desk... and get pro results cheap of course ... the desk would be less then $15.00 to do right.
I was walking through a box store that mainly sells linen ,towels etc. They will sometimes have small furniture pieces..stools little tables and so on. They had a Knock -Off of Alvar Aalto's, Model No. 60 stool ...it was a lost leader in a current flyer...they were made of a cheaper grade of wood...so most had serious flaws all had a few minor ones. I went through every one...they had about 50 pieces. I found one ..free of all but a couple of tiny flaws and the wood on the top had a highly figured grain . It was only $12.00 ...the real deal is $200.00. I was not too proud to sort through every single stool to get the one perfect piece.
I even found a really nice waste paper basket made of woven willow (you may have at some time seen laundry hampers made of willow) It is simple sturdy and tasteful ...I found it at a grocery store $6.00. At a Fysk store ...they have many quite well designed pieces...but beware..some pieces suffer from bad construction. Most of the metal furniture has sloppy welds. This weakens the furniture and makes it look cheap. On the other hand they have a knock-off of a Eames office chair in a black mesh ...for $125.00 ... it was passable but the cheap twinned black plastic wheels would be much improved with an old style singular open wheel like the 1958 original. You could buy a old used office chair for $15 or less and take the wheels off it.
.... Eames aluminum group chair in white mesh about $1200.00
exceptionally well made...with a great attention to detail.
last but not least...
Ikea ...
What !!! Is that not a cheesy budget box store? Well yes... and no. Some is gimmicky and some of it is pretty tacky. But! many pieces are designed by good designers who have carved out their own prestigious reputation. These pieces show up consistently in many of Europe's leading magazines. I have seen pieces as cheap as $20.00 sitting beside pieces worth over $6000.00 and not looking a bit out of place.
You can go online and view these for yourself. The Ikea PS cabinets... these are painted cabinets with louvered doors reminiscent of a traditional industrial, instutional locker. The Helmer drawer unit... looks like a tiny filing cabinet on wheels.
The Grimle dining table has a white top with chrome legs and is very similar to pieces costing hundreds more. Check out the Melltrop dining table it too is white with chrome legs and sells for $400.00 and is very similiar to Piet Hein's ...Super-Elliptical table designed in 1968...which sells for $2000.00! The Torsby a very simple table with a chrome frame and glass top rivals the best. The Jamsunda dining table is much the same as Mies Van Der Rohes 1921 ...369/2 table. Vika Amon table tops married to Vika Curry legs...are a credible stand in for tables by Mies Van Der Rohes or Dieter Rams. The Roy folding stool is notable. The Lack floating shelves come in many finishes and I have seen them used again and again and again in homes where there is no such word as 'budget'. Recently the Biby glass door cabinet is showing up.... it looks like the large institutional cabinets of the early 20th century.In fact I have seen a similar piece that was from a mid century dentist's office.
Very noteworthy pieces are the Karlstead series of sofas and chairs,,, The Tirup armchair pays homage to Christophe Pillets work and the Poang armchairs are very similar to Alvar Aalto's designs in the 30's. The Stockholm armchair is in the spirit of Hans J. Wegner's JH 812. The Kamfors sofa reminds me of Florence Knolls mid 50's work.
But the one piece that really blows me away...is the Klippan sofa...$300.00 in cloth...$600.00 in a good quality leather. Designed in 1970. I find it very amusing that a sofa called 'Silver' by Leonardo Volpi for Edra in 1999...designed I might add almost 20 years later..is considered a prized collectible...worth thousands... yet it is practically a clone of the Klippan!
Note: the similarity of the Klippan below left and the Silver to the right and both come with removable covers !
As I write, there is collection of the best pieces that the company has made, since it was founded in 1943, touring Europe's museums.
So the only thing I will warn you about is not to go too crazy with the stuff...it is very easy to end up with too much of it. For example you might have a room with just a few pieces needed to finish it. You look at what is available new that you could use. Your first choice is considered by the greater public...very reasonable... but....it is still three times the price of Ikea..and you already have two or three pieces ...perhaps the one's I just mentioned. Opps! you now have an Ikea show room instead of the show piece you were striving for. But my final word is...don't count it out it has some great stuff.
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