Proof that you can make a business of anything...

Vintage furniture. Expect more on the subject here in the future. In the meantime, I recently came across this little online business. Devoted exclusively to reupholstering mid-century Eames chairs. Talk about your vintage specialty stores!

An Eames chair can look like this:















Or this (eek! it's aliiiiyyyyve!) (it rocks, and yet it doesn't):




















Or possibly this:















The Eames brothers, if you've never heard of them, were crazy whacked-out experimental industrial designer types who played around with architecture, design, film, photography, and lots of other media in the 1950s. Ray and Charles Eames. Their official Web site is here. It is a very interesting read for anyone fascinated by design and systems.

My main point, though, is: isn't it cool that this little online company has found such an interesting little niche--taking beautifully designed vintage chairs, and either restoring them exactly (they can often match the original fabric) or translating them for the modern esthetic with beautiful fabrics from designers like this one.

And after all, aren't our chairs worth it? They really are furniture's most underappreciated labourers. Their job is long, thankless, and sometimes scary.

Like beautiful, well-designed vintage clothing, exceptional vintage furniture never loses its cool--it just needs a little refurbishing once in a while.