Six Cleo Baldon Chocolate Lacquer Wrought Iron Indoor Outdoor Chairs Terra, 1966

Six Cleo Baldon armchairs from her Villa group manufactured by her company 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 exhibitions 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 with my partner she knew of five companies that copied her designs.
The Villa chairs are easy to appreciate for their style and comfort which is probably why this is the design Inca, her most prolific imitator chose as the inspiration for their chair design.
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 crossbar of the X-leg and the frames being forged on Cleo Baldon's designs in contrast to a simple tack weld utilized by Inca.
The horizontal bands that support the back cushion is another clear difference between the chairs of each company because Inca uses a diamond pattern for their back support and other copiers used vertical banding a clear sign of a copier trying to avoid court appearances for design infringement..
The six chairs have been restored and are in excellent condition.
Newly upholstered in black vinyl upholstery is included on the six chairs.