Spanner, Part 2

We originally came across three of these chairs at a garage sale. Two were in good shape, and the third had a lot of issues. It looked like it fell off the back of a truck, so we decided to just salvage the two good ones and use the third for parts if needed. After working on the pair we realized that the third was worth a revival attempt, so we repaired the areas of wood that were in rough shape. I decided to paint the chair black and go for a more bold look this time around. I think the original factory colour may have been black. After sanding down the brown glossy paint, we found black underneath. We're very happy with the result. Goes to show you just how durable these Spanner chairs are. Check out the before and after photos.

Canadian designer Russell Spanner, Catalina collection, Circa 1952

Canadian Design Icon

We recently had the pleasure of restoring a pair of chairs by Canadian designer Russell Spanner (1916-1974). They are from his Catalina collection circa 1952. His designs were sold in Eaton’s and Simpson’s department stores. They were manufactured in Toronto at Spanner Products Limited, a family owned business.

Apparently, Spanner was quite an accomplished amateur wrestler and was known to test the strength of his designs by jumping on them and throwing them across the factory floor.

We enjoyed working on these chairs. Spanner's designs have really stood the test of time. The condition of the chairs when they came into our possession was pretty rough. They had been painted with a shiny brown paint, and the original vinyl upholstery was pretty drab. So we removed the paint to find the lovely walnut wood underneath. The new gold-toned upholstery compliments the warmness of the wood. The exposed brass screws that were part of the original design give it an industrial look that still feels current today.

Sources : stylenorth.ca, A Spanner in the works: The furniture of Russell Spanner (Robert Fones)

SOLD

The Wells Chair

This curbside find is a mid-century danish chair by Arne Vodder. It has a swivel back-rest and is very comfortable.

SOLD

The Howland Chair

This chair was a curb find, and it was in rough shape. We had to remove the former stain that was on it and make a new seat base. We're very proud of how it cleaned up. New wax and upholstery did the trick. It's a solid oak chair with mid-century curves.