In the early 20th century Greaves & Thomas was known for designing contemporary, high-end British furniture from its London headquarters. Now, almost a century later, the brand’s pieces are still targets for the discerning interior designer.
Perhaps the most famous designer to work for Greaves & Thomas was Walter Cornell. He brought the rising Danish and Scandi influence to the brand; clean lines and functional presentation that were becoming popular in the mid-20th century.
Attention to detail flows through all of their pieces, and in our opinion, especially demonstrated with these chairs. This attention to detail and focus on quality is what led to the eventual take-over of Greaves & Thomas by Schreiber in 1967, who were looking to move into a higher quality marketplace and realised that Greaves & Thomas were already well-established and highly respected in those circles.
We bought one of these superb dining chairs a few years ago and it sat somewhere in our 'to do' pile ever since. Skip forward to the present and we were lucky enough to receive a call from a lovely lady who was clearing her mother's house. There, in the attic were three more of these instantly recognisable pieces.
Part of the 'Put-U-Up' range, these fantastic chairs are now very hard to find and at the time of writing, are one of only a couple on the market. G&T pieces like this do not often come on to the market and when they do, they are snapped up quickly.
We've stripped back and sanded each chair with the wonderful Wynn Griffiths and Tarr restorers improving them even further and finishing them to the highest possible standard. It was also their keen eye that noticed one of the chairs' curved back ends in a different place to the other three, as can be seen in the photos. We think that perhaps the chairs were produced at different times with the design differing slightly over the years.
As with any vintage furniture, although restored there are still some signs of wear commensurate with age. There was a particularly unorthodox fix of a screw being drilled into one leg but this has since been remedied as best as possible.
With new upholstery in genuine black leather to boot, the results are absolutely stunning. This set of dining chairs are the perfect item for any lover of simple Mid 20th Century design and easily some of our favourites to pass through Absolutely Nice Vintage.
Each chair measures approximately 56cm wide, 51cm deep, and 67cm tall with a seat height of 43cm.