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Cleo Baldon

6 Cleo Baldon Chocolate Lacquer Wrought Iron Chairs Terra C. 1966

Documentation

Documented elsewhere (exact item)

Documentation Notes

Terra Catalog 1966

Origin

United States, California

Period

1950-1979

Materials

Lacquered steel, smoked oak rand vinyl upholstery

Dimensions

W.	18 in;	H.	31.25 in;	D.	21 in;
W.	45.72 cm;	H.	79.38 cm;	D.	53.34 cm;

Seat H.	18 in;
Seat H.	45.72 cm;

Condition

Good. The frames are restored. the upholstery is vintage in excellent condition.

Creation Date

c. 1968

Description

Suite of six Cleo Baldon chairs, 2 armchairs and 4 side chairs from her Villa line manufactured by Terra in the mid 1960s thru the mid 1970s.
The wrought iron chairs are lacquered in their original warm chocolate color with fumed oak rods.
A variant of this chair was featured in the California Design/ Nine exhibition at the Pasadena Art Museum in 1965.
Cleo Baldon was instrumental in promoting the swimming pool culture of Southern California and developed the infinity pool.
Her furniture is beautifully crafted both in the framing and the upholstery.
According to conversations she had with my partner she knew of five companies that copied her designs.
This is the first group of Villa chairs that I have had and it is easy to appreciate their style and comfort which is probably why this is the design that Inca her most prolific imitator chose as the inspiration for their chair production.
The most obvious difference between Cleo's designs executed by her company Terra and the Inca copies is in the detail of the thumb joinery at the cross bart of the X leg on Cleo Baldon's designs in contrast to a simple tack weld utilized by Inca.
The horizontal bands for the seat and back upholstery supports is another clear difference between the chairs of each company.
All of the chairs have been restored and are in excellent condition.
Vintage dune colored vinyl upholstery included on all six chairs.
In addition we have four more Villa armchairs in restoration..

Styles / Movements

Mid Century, Modern

Incollect Reference Number

328964