Rare reclining Black leather Tulip chair by Preben Fabricius and Jørgen Kastholm for Kill Intl.

Originally designed by powerhouse 1960s design team preben fabricius and jørgen kastholm in 1964, their tulip chair has become an icon of mid century danish design. The actual original name for this chair that was produced by kill international is ‘the bucket chair’ and it is still produced today by walter knoll under that name - the production reference is fk 6725. Needless to say the name comes nowhere near close to portraying the beautiful and curvaceous lines it exhibits which is why over the years it’s often been referred to as the ‘tulip’ or ‘bird’ chair. What makes this particular chair very rare and possibly unique, is two things: firstly, nearly always the circular slides are polished aluminium, which is the same material as the leg construction. However, this particular chair has black sliders that look almost gunmetal in colour. And secondly, and of far more importance, is that it reclines. The only version of this chair that tilts backwards is the later production 5 star base models. And yet here we have a 3 legged fixed seat model that reclines; and if you look at the base supporting stem you’ll immediately see how rare that is. The stem features a circular chrome protrusion with a large black hex bolt in the middle. This encases a series of convex and concave washers and these washers work against each other to create the tension that gives the spring in the recline and as such it always returns to the upright position. On this basis it won’t recline unless you want it to by simply pushing backwards; it’s therefore perfectly balanced and comfortable. I’ve never seen another version of this chair with that feature and function and try as you may I challenge you to find one with the special protrusion in the stem that provides this functionality. I therefore don’t know if it was a prototype that never went into production or it was simply part of a very limited production run; but in any event it’s a rare beast indeed.

Ref. : VCR5TY39