Gossip/phone chair

[Greg G.]

These keep coming up when I do searches on Craigslist, I finally found one I liked near me within my budget range.  Lady said it's from the 40s, but there's no manufacture date on it, although it has the original "Do Not Remove" tag on it.  The upholstery isn't original, she said she did it sometime back and it's just polyester material.  I think I'll have it redone with leather and a little more padding.

[foots]

I'm a big fan of gossip benches/phone chairs and arm chairs. I like the one you've got, its a quite nice peice. I'm hoping to get one one of these days.

[HobieSport]

That is a great looking phone chair, Brinybay. I don't intend to get one personally, but I am maybe interested in designing and building a modern one with an art deco look.  Oh no! I said "art deco".

[foots]

Hobie, for using such language you'll have to send one of your phones to me. 
You have the same idea as me, I'd love to design a gossip bench.

[HobieSport]

Hobie, for using such language you'll have to send one of your phones to me.  
You have the same idea as me, I'd love to design a gossip bench.

Foots do you do carpentry? I'm not an expert woodworker, built I've designed and build things most of my life. One of my ideas for a cool phone chair/table unit would be to use 3/4 inch hardwood plywood, with semi-circular art decoesque curves and round routered edges, showing the plywood layers as part of the design-look. I'll maybe to do a rough idea sketch sometime and post it here for constructive critiques and suggestions.

BTW, is it okay to say "art decoesque"? Probably not.

[bwanna]

what' wrong with "art deco"

brinybay you have a beautiful gossip bench. it looks more "50's" to me, tho. it probably would have had a flowered pattern on the seat. leather will look real nice.  should be an easy project to recover.

folks must not have spent much time on the phone "back in the day". most gossip seats that i see don't have much padding.

give another pic after the upolstery job.

[foots]

Hobie, I've always wanted to learn how to make furniture. Designing a chair or desk is easier than making one.
Bwanna, find the post about the most overused terms in auctions/sales. Basically art deco is terribly overused to describe everything you could imagine.
You are correct about Brinybay's chair in that IF he chooses to recover it, a little bit thicker padding and some tufted oxblood leather would look great.

[HobieSport]

Hobie, I've always wanted to learn how to make furniture. Designing a chair or desk is easier than making one.

Just a thought, but I've found that if I really want t learn a new skill, a very good way is to find an older good craftperson who you get along well with personally, and apprentice them for awhile at a low but reasonable wage, even if it means sweeping sawdust and other menial but necessary shop tasks. Many folks seem to enjoy passing on their knowledge and "tricks of the trade" and are happy for the help and good company.

When I wanted to learn to paint (art) I just phoned up my favorite local artist (a local legend he was, really very skilled) and asked if he could use a hand around his studio. A few months later we enjoyed working together so much and sharing knowledge that we formed an art studio business partnership that lasted for many good years, until he finally passed away. Here is a link to some of our work back in those days: http://tinyurl.com/m4e5q2

I did a similar apprenticeship when I was eighteen and wanted to learn carpentry and basic home architecture. My sister recently apprenticed a musical instrument restorer for $10./hr and really enjoyed the fascinating work.

Bwanna, as Foots pointed out, here's the link to the "art-deco" thread: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=154.0

I doubt that anyone here has anything against art deco itself, and many of us love it, just that the term is way overused and abused on Ebay, so it's become a running joke on the forum. And of course there are some great looking phones that can truly be described as art deco, though opinions may vary slightly. Looking up "art deco" on Wikipedia, one can see that the term is not really clearly defined, sort of like the term "film noir".

Say, that Uniphone you just got does look a little "art deco" to me. (As I dodge thrown shoe. )

[bwanna]

ah   being relatively new here, i had not seen the over uses phrase thread. i argree whole heartedly with everyone else on that topic.

i thot you guys were poking fun at my most favorite era of design!   actually my HYBRID is too new to be considered art deco

with his "tufted oxblood leather" foots sounds a bit of the fashionista uh oh i'm dodging the shoe now!

if you get around to designing/building a gossip bench, please post pics of the project.

[HobieSport]

i thot you guys were poking fun at my most favorite era of design!

Not at all. Art Deco is my favorite design era also, as Film Noir is my favorite type of movie, and the fedora my favorite hat. One good memory from my youth is helping design, build and paint a huge stage set for a production of Guys and Dolls (though "fashionista" I am not. ) There were seven big sets, two accurately depicting huge backdrops of Times Square in the 1930s and 40s, realistically painted from oodles of historical photos, with tons of painted neon effects, with Art Deco being the prime design theme. I even got to design and built a stage-craft phone booth from the era, and we found a payphone for it, though come to think of it, the phone was probably from a later era.

[Greg G.]

That is a great looking phone chair, Brinybay. I don't intend to get one personally, but I am maybe interested in designing and building a modern one with an art deco look.  Oh no! I said "art deco".

Nothing wrong with that, as long as it truly has an art deco design.  Some ads I see that say "art deco" obviously don't know what art deco is.  Hard to describe, but one way is the "sky scraper" or "machine age" look, angles and circles.  Here's a few good examples.  One is my radio, the other my couch, note the lines and circles.  The other is a side board that I missed by about an hour:

[bingster]

I do hate being the voice of dissent, but it's important to note that that the mere presence of angles and circles doesn't necessarily mean art deco.  The radio for example is pure Jacobean, with it's rosettes, scrolls, and linenfold panels.  There was a huge Jacobean revival in the 1920s that didn't go completely out of style until the mid-1930s, and the radio was produced at the height of that movement.  When it was new, it wouldn't have been considered modern, but very traditional.

If one looks at Biedermeier, and even some Empire, Hepplewhite, and Chinese Chippendale, one sees a vaguely art deco look, but since those pieces can be as much as 250 years old, they can't be classified as art deco.  They may remind us of art deco, but they are other things, instead.

[Greg G.]

I do hate being the voice of dissent, but it's important to note that that the mere presence of angles and circles doesn't necessarily mean art deco.  The radio for example is pure Jacobean, with it's rosettes, scrolls, and linenfold panels.  There was a huge Jacobean revival in the 1920s that didn't go completely out of style until the mid-1930s, and the radio was produced at the height of that movement.  When it was new, it wouldn't have been considered modern, but very traditional.

If one looks at Biedermeier, and even some Empire, Hepplewhite, and Chinese Chippendale, one sees a vaguely art deco look, but since those pieces can be as much as 250 years old, they can't be classified as art deco.  They may remind us of art deco, but they are other things, instead.

Don't apologize, that's quite alright.  I googled Jacobean and found this:  http://www.buffaloah.com/f/fstyles/jaco/jaco.html

[foots]

Since we're mentioning styles, I'm fascinated with streamline designs.
Bwanna, thanks for the compliment.
Hobie, for me to learn to do all the things I'd like to learn, I'd have to live to the age of 225. I do agree with you in spending time with older craftsmen. I've spent and continue to spend lots of time with older people but usually to talk about their younger lives, genealogy, or if they're vets, stories of their military service.
Bingster, I really like your sofa. Great color, style, and it sure looks comfortable.

[Greg G.]

Bingster, I really like your sofa. Great color, style, and it sure looks comfortable.

I think you meant my sofa.  Truth be known, I never sit or lie in it.  When I'm in the living room, I'm in the recliner.  The sofa has become a catch-all, like just about every other piece of furniture I own.