Freebie Friday: Sidewalk Scandinavian

THe neighbours up the street have been slowly deaccumulating by putting things on the sidewalk. Because I don’t want to be a hoarder, I generally try to avoid rifling through their rejects, but when I saw these two chairs huddling on the sidewalk on Monday, I had to bring them home.

They are two rather careworn examples of Folke Påalsson’s J77 chair, designed for Fællesforeningen for Danmarks Brugsforeninger (Aka Danish Consumers Coöperative Society or FDB) Møbler Denmark. Designers such as Hans Jørgen Wegner, Poul M. Volther, Børge Mogensen and Ejvind A. Johansson aslo created pieces for the cooperative. The mission of FDB was to bring good design to a wider audience – at an incredible price.

The J77 is kind of an iconic example of Danish modern design. In 2011, it was reissued by Hay. But these babies are original — complete the FDB label on the bottom of the seat (see below).

Because they are original, they do need some TLC. I hope they can be restored to their original condition, which would have looked a little something like this: