Description

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LOCATION- being sold under consignment from a private seller in ADELAIDE near the city. I travelled to Adelaide to personally work with this suite and took all the photos for this listing. Delivery Australia-wide is possible. Approximately $420 to get this full suite to Melbourne. Approximately $550 to get the full suite to Sydney.  

Our listing price is OFFERS OVER $1,750 for ONE CHAIR ONLY. Offers over $3,500 for BOTH CHAIRS will be considered more favourably than for just one chair. Offers over $5,500 for all the available pieces (2 swivel chairs and the 3-seater sofa) will be considered most favourably. Obviously we prefer to keep the matching suite together. Full suites like this are very hard to get. The last time we had a full suite with a 3-seater sofa and swivel chairs was about 9 months ago but that suite was in darker colours. The off-white leather is “fresher”, less-bold and the most saleable colour out of all Tessa T21 suites. The leather on all 3 pieces is the ORIGINAL VINTAGE leather from the 1970’s and is in brilliant condition overall for its age.

A full suite like this (and in these colours) comes up rarely, plus there are other configuration possibilities so we’ve nominated to list the suite in an OFFERS OVER situation.

This is FULL-GRAIN vintage leather (from the 1970’s)- the real deal. Tessa sometimes used the shitty TOP-GRAIN leather after the mid-1990’s until 2019 (when they closed- they closed because they couldn’t compete with China anymore unfortunately). Top-Grain leather is NOT TOP-GRADE leather- it’s the inferior THIN modern-day leather that usually deteriorates within 10-20 years- don’t be deceived. FULL-GRAIN leather is the best leather you can get (and the only leather you want).

The investment appeal of this suite is a NO-BRAINER. This FULL suite (with the desirable PAIR of SWIVEL CHAIRS and the 3-SEATER SOFA) retailed new for about $15,000 in 2019 just before Tessa went out of business.

The thing that fascinates and excites me so much here is that even though a small fortune was paid for this suite, there’s been about 50 years of use out of this AUSTRALIAN-MADE furniture but now it’s ready to passed on to another loving home with no need for restoration! (That to me is close to a miracle in today’s world.) There’s not much to show for about 50 YEARS OF FAMILY USE! THIS LOUNGE SUITE IS IN FULL ”AS FOUND”” condition. I didn’t have time to tidy up the leather. This makes it even easier for buyers to invest in this suite. Look at it after about 50 years of constant use with absolutely NO RESTORATION! The timber arms could benefit from being sanded back and refinished but this is an easy job that could be done by anyone- it takes about 1.5 hours per arm to do. Marvel at the craftsmanship here. It’s no wonder Tessa T21’s have lasted the way they have- quite simply this furniture was built to last generations!

The timber arms show some UV exposure because the armrest-covers needed to be taken off- they were on their last legs.

Relax in these chairs after a hard day at work and you’ll probably fall asleep- the comfort here is PURE BLISS!

Background Info and Provenance

(This section about Tessa T21 chairs was written in 2020 with some adaptions later made. These chairs are technically called the Tessa Executive Chair (not the T21- the cushions here are more streamlined compared to the Tessa T21. These streamlined cushions are more desirable compared to the standard T21).

This is arguably the most sought-after chair design to ever come out of Australia. The Contour range by Grant Featherston is probably the most collectable in terms of dollar-value; this one, the T21 swivel chair, released by Tessa in the early 1970’s, is easily the most asked-for vintage chair through our website. When I experienced sitting in a Tessa T21 swivel chair for the first time, I instantly knew why so many people ask me to buy them. The quality just jumps out at you but it’s the comfort that everyone is after! … OMG … after sitting in a Tessa T21 I didn’t want to ever get up! During COVID lock-downs, I had phone calls from people almost on a daily basis asking for T21 swivel chairs or suites. All our Tessa T21 listings attract record interest because we strive to stock the best we can get- rarest configurations (such as this), best quality leather (such as this) and items all in great condition (such as this).

The footprint of these chairs is small for swivel chairs (because of the steel substructure- the timber is clad onto steel.) This suite is upholstered in VINTAGE FULL-GRAIN BOVINE LEATHER- the real deal. I wrote a blog describing the differences between Top-Grain and Full-Grain leather in 2021 (put “leather brochure” in the Search box to find it- be aware that Top-Grain leather is NOT TOP-GRADE leather- it’s the inferior modern-day leather that can disintegrate within 10 – 20 years of use. This leather is VINTAGE (from the late-1970’s)- NOT the cheaper leather we see around today. The ink stamps under the armrests on this suite were used by Tessa in the 1970’s which verifies the age.

You’ll sometimes see second-hand Tessa suites where the leather has completely ripped at the seams or cracked all the way through after about 10 years of use- this is always MODERN Top-Grain Leather.

After a 50-year stint in the Australian Marketplace, making virtually all their furniture in AUSTRALIA, Tessa Furniture died in 2019. It’s a sad state of affairs when an Australian business can no longer do what they do so well because of cheap imports destined to end up as landfill. And this is the very reason why Tessa eventually died. Their designs are so well-made that vintage second-hand Tessa pieces ended up becoming more sought-after than new Tessa Furniture. And who can blame people going straight to the second-hand market for designs such as this? The QUALITY of this design is so exceptional that second-hand pieces (in quality upholstery / leather) often still look basically new after 10, 20, 30, 40 … and even 50 years of use. In this listing you’re getting chairs that present extremely well but there’s REAL investment appeal on offer here because these are VINTAGE pieces with irrefutable proof of the age!

I believe this design- the T21 swivel chair by Tessa- is the best investment in the furniture marketplace. Everyone seems to want them, they are NO LONGER in production so more people will hang onto theirs for a lifetime of enjoyment. Therefore, less and less will be coming onto the secondary market. T21 chairs retailed NEW for about $4,400 EACH (in FULL-GRAIN leather) just before Tessa went under- at this RESERVE price (a bit more than ONE THIRD retail) it should be obvious to anybody that the only way the value of these chairs can go … is way up. Value is also tied up in this configuration- this suite is in one of the most sought-after configurations- all these pieces as a matching set rarely come up together.

This suite is nearing 50 years old and look at it! Just mind-blowing really! No guessing the quality on offer here. After much of the world’s furniture ends up as landfill, this furniture will be passed onto another user and eventually a new generation. Now that Tessa Furniture is not made anymore, I can’t see any reason why this Australian design (also made in AUSTRALIA) won’t slowly increase to the value they were selling for new (ie. $4,400 EACH). There’s no better way I can think of to invest in your home, the future of our environment and local community.

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