In the luxury estate sale industry, the Brown Button team is most often working in very beautiful homes with fairly traditional decor schemes. Our current sale in Briarcliff (September 14-16, 2017) does not follow this traditional line. The estate is full of original art, sculptures, Isamu Noguchi paper lamps, colorful mobiles hanging from the ceiling, and a collection of incredibly unique post modern furniture. Some of the chairs are more reminiscent of art pieces found in the Nelson-Atkins than something to sit on in a living room. With the unique nature of the sale we thought we’d dive into one one specific designer of the who created some of the more interesting highlights of the sale.
Norwegian designer Peter Opsvik has been designing furniture and products since the late 1960’s. His overall goal was to help consumers rethink the idea of sitting by throwing out any preconceived notions of what was “appropriate” on the topic. He is considered a pioneer in creating ergonomic seating that improves the overall experience for the user. In the 1970’s, many design authorities were constantly creating ideas for what the best sitting posture should be; Opsvik suggested that all ways could be correct. He also questioned the necessity of body support as being the most important factor for comfort in seating design.
One of his most notable designs is the Tripp Trapp chair which is manufactured by Stokke. The Tripp Trapp chair was chair designed for children and meant to ‘grow’ with the child into adulthood. The chair allows the child to always be at the same level with adults throughout their whole life. Seven million copies of this chair has been sold worldwide. Another notable design is ‘The Garden’ (or re-launched as ‘The Globe Garden’) and its variants. This tree-like form invites the sitter to choose what is most comfortable for them and its design seeks to demolish conventional sitting ideals. Opsvik is also the designer of the Gravity balans chair. This reclining chair allows the sitter to recline from a ‘tasking’ position to a ‘relaxing’ position easily. It also allows the sitter to experience a weightless and zero-gravity chair when fully reclined.
His furniture designs employ the philosophy of giving the sitter the freedom to choose what posture or position is comfortable for them. Therefore there can be many ways you could sit or recline in one of his pieces. This also makes his furniture uniquely sculptural and unconventional looking.
As mentioned before, our sale this week has many examples of Opsvik’s work. We have a sofa, recliner, & stool that is related to his Garden series, two Gravity Balans recliners, a handful of Flysit chairs, and of course two Tripp Trapp chairs.
Our Briarcliff estate sale runs Sep. 14th-16th. from 9am-5pm each day. All the photos show pieces that are included in the sale. You can view the full description and photo album here. These photographed Peter Opsvik pieces are all included in the sale and if you visit you’re more than welcome to explore the various unique ways to sit in them.
If you have similar furniture pieces and are considering an estate sale or consignment, feel free to read more about our services here or to give us a call at 913-815-0505
