A new decorator had a client in Colombia who needed 24 copies of a 1903 Koloman Moser armchair. The catch was that I was to refine and build only the prototype. The full set would be built in South America from my sample chair and the detailed shop drawings I was to produce.
In a way I was offered the fun part of the job so I accepted it.
I visited the Neue Gallery in NYC to view the original. We didn't ask for permission to copy it so I had to memorize the details and estimate minor dimensions. The overall dimensions had been published.
The chairs were to live on a large oceanside patio so we built them from teak. We substituted rush for the original painted cane upholstery. I worked with a chair seat weaver to perfect a checkerboard pattern. While completely different from the black and white checkerboard original this suited the teak chair beautifully. Note that an upholstered cylindrical bolster will be added for comfort!
I look forward to seeing a photograph of the finished set.
