I have a confession to make. I really like chairs. Really, really, really like chairs.

There’s a fantastic new exhibition on at the Federation Square NGV at the moment called ‘Mid-Century Modern‘ and it is heaven for a chair-lover like me. It is a temporary exhibition about (as the name suggests!) Australian furniture from the middle of the 20th Century. There are things besides chairs, and it is all fabulous. We visited today, and it is well worth making the effort to go (even if you aren’t into chairs as much as I am). It’s on until October, and is $10 entry (or $6 if you are NGV members, which we are). There’s a great book on the exhibition that you can buy at the NGV Shop (I actually got mine at Readings earlier in the week).

We realised that our kitchen table chairs (which are ratty and need serious attention) are Featherston – the Mitzi design (manufactured by Aristoc Industires) from the original interior design (around 1957) of the ICI (now Orica) building on Nicholson Street. We are quite excited about this. I also learnt about Featherston’s Delma chair which will be recognised by anyone who went to school in Australia between 1960 and 1990 – very utilitarian and plain in its design. One day I hope to own my very own, and very original, Featherston R160 Contour armchair (I plan to find one in an Op Shop for $100 one day… Ha!).

The doorway to chair heaven

An original from about 1951. Constructed with laminated plywood – an innovative use of materials at the time

Sigh

You can see on the wall the patterns for the chairs. You could buy the patterns just like you would for a dress pattern.

Whose grandparents didn’t have a variant of this chair? This one is a Fred Lowen made by the Fler Company around 1955

Featherston – you might get the idea that I’m a fan

These blob chairs couldn’t out compete the bean bag craze

Getting modular

I think all schools in Australia had these chairs for the teachers

A house in Surrey Hills that you could win – you could win the house or the furniture

Curves and plywood

Complete with shag pile

Check out the drinks trolley!

I did a career questionnaire when I was young and it suggested I was destined to be a colour chemist…

Nothing like some refreshments and a magazine to recover