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[Cristina]

Hi Guys!
I recently acquired this 1960s Illum Wikkelsø for A. Mikael Laursen, swivel lounge chair in black leather. The leather is in pretty good shape, with normal signs of wear but it is not brittle, cracked or dried out. The foam on the other hand is starting to break down and needs to be replaced. I am wondering if it would be possible to open this up, replace the foam and salvage and reuse the leather?

I don't know the terminology but there is a continuous welted seam along the edge, and I believe it would need to be opened up along this seam because there is no visible stitching anywhwere else, or access from the bottom. The inside of the seat, arms, and black are all one continuous piece of leather. There are metal rods and big u-shaped nails(?) holding the rods down I'm the crevices. I think the back/form of the chair is made of fiberglass.

Does anyone have experience with something like this? Can the leather be salvaged? What should I expect to find under there as far as clips or hardware? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[MalcolmM]

Pry the seam and welting open a little in a non visible place to see how its attached, could be stapled all around. It would make sense that the seat and back piece are separate and the seam is hidden with "gimp" which is a way of hiding staples.

[JimmieJoe]

It is also possible that the cushion is being held in place by clips similar to an Eames chair. In the case of an Eames chair the cushion has to be slid along the frame to disengage the cushion assemble from the frame assemble.

[JimmieJoe]

On a reproduction Eames chair the clips look like this:



But on the original from the 60s there was a grommet on the cushion and a clip on the frame. The finger on the clip inserted into the grommet to hold the cushion assembly to the frame.