Only registered today so I thought I'd send you a brief hello.
Great site, very user friendly. Really nice to see questions and queries being answered.
I live in Geelong, in the state of Victoria, Australia, only about 15 mins from Bells Beach with my husband Greg and out Rotti puppy.
We recently purchased our first house which was built in 1961 and built along the lines of many of the case study houses in Califonia. We're probably extremely biased, but we believe it's one of the best examples of mid century residential architecture in the district.
We're currently re-decorating the house and have a passion for collecting quality pieces of furniture and artifacts which compliment the original architecture and style of the house.
We also love the thrill of the hunt and spend many hours scouring through garage sales, flea markets, local classified & second hand stores hoping to find that elusive purchase! Sound familiar?
We've been very fortunate so far and have purchased several exceptional pieces which take pride of place in our new abode.
Last week we took delivery of our new lounge suite & matching coffee table which we purchased from one of our favourite stores - Machine Age Geelong. It's Eero Aarnio design built by Framac for Australia. Quite 70's & fairly different to the rest of our furniture but very cool and like many people who love mid century design, we adore so many styles and really buy what grabs the heart. Another really unique place to shop is The House of Balsheit in Melbourne. The most amazing collection of 50's - 70's furniture & collectables I've seen!
Anyway, hope to send you some photos soon. It's been great chatting.
Bye for now.
Ruby George
Posts: 2 | Location: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: 07-01-01
Glad you are enjoying the site! Yes, please post a pic of your house and the Eero Aarnio set when you get them...would love to see.
I guess no matter what side of the World you happen to be on the collecting game is about the same. I am curious though about what you come across while hunting for vintage modern furnishings in Australia. Is it mostly Australian, European, American or just a mix? I am just curious if the distance make the U.S. designs more scarce there or if enough was imported to make it fairly commonplace.
I also see many up and coming Australian designers making a name for themselves. Seems to be a design renaissance of sorts taking place there as it is in many other places presently. What are the hot 20th Century Autralian designers that you or others seek? I would be interested in learning more.
Barry Bryant GOMOD.COM :: bringing modern design home
Dear Barry It was great to hear back from you so promptly. I'll post some photos of 'Dewrang House' and our new lounge suite soon. My husband and I are only new to collecting and to be honest, we buy what appeals to us in design and most importantly, what we can afford. Most of the pieces that we've bought are quality Australian designs which feature strong Danish or American influences. Some of our lucky finds include: a solid 1960's teak 1.8meter credenza from Parker Furniture, a pair of rosewood arm chairs (origins unknown but of Danish influence), a large original 70's Flokati, two teak 1960's Parker coffee tables, 6 x John Meademore wire chairs & outdoor table (Bertoia style), a 5 piece Casala moulded plastic dining suite including pedestal table (resembles Saarinen), several items of glass, pottery (usually from West Germany) and fabulous lights. All of these items have ranged from $2.00- $150.00 AUD only. It pays to be patient as groovy items always appear. Most of these have been bought at charity stores & classifieds. The mid century Australian designers who are highly sought after include fabulous Grant Featherstone chairs & lounges, John Meadmore wire chairs, Danish Deluxe, Sebel & Fleur to name a few. Quality Oz designs still demand good prices but are obviously more common place. There are a few specialy stores in Melbourne who sell a wide range of European, American & top Australian pieces. If you're after a particular item, their contacts can usually find it for you. Danish Modern is a fabulous store, so is House of Balsheit as previously mentioned (although astronomical in price!) and our local stop,Machine Age. For example, an Eero Saarinen Womb Chair without ottoman in excellent condition retails for $6,000 AUD. A set of Eames EC127 side chairs retails for $500 AUD each! Euro & American designs are very 'in' at the moment and demand very high prices. Unfortunately they are out of my price range until we win the lotto! Still, we manage to furnish our home with some fab pieces and will continue to thrill in the search for them. I'm not familiar with many new designers although we would love to own Scott Jeanneret's ds200 Orbit table. Anyway, enough from me. Catch you soon. Cheers.
Ruby George
Posts: 2 | Location: Melbourne, Australia | Registered: 07-01-01
Sounds like you have managed to assemble quite a collection at prices that anyone would be happy to pay! I am aware of Grant Featherstone and have seen some images of his items (never in person though as I am certain they are quite uncommon here) and absolutely love his designs!
It's nice to hear names I am not familiar with as well. I look forward to searching for examples on the Web.
Anyway, I will keep this short but wanted to say Hi again and can't wait to see the pics
Barry Bryant GOMOD.COM :: bringing modern design home
I am also a new member in Melbourne. My wife and I have recently got the 'retro bug', purchasing a couple of Danish de Luxe chairs as well as an interesting 3 piece suite originally manufactured in Japan.
Modern Furniture, Lighting and Bedding
