Comparison Guide: Modern Classic's Executive Arm Chair
Inspired by: Eero Saarinen Model 71 Executive Arm Chair
Click an image to enlarge and for captions.
Our Item No: MC-1356
Chair with Steel Legs: $1,000
Chair with Wood Legs: $ 1,100
- Offered in Polyester Boucle Fabrics or Leather
- Fabrics: 16 Colors
- Italian Leathers: 18 Colors
- Legs: Solid Stainless Steel or Solid Red Oak Wood
- Dimensions closely match Signature model
- Exclusive: Powdercoating in 8 colors are available
| Overall Dimensions: | 26"w x 24"d x 32.5"h |
|---|---|
| Seat Height: | 18.5" |
| Seat Dimensions: | 18"w x 20"d |
| Weight: | 24 pounds |
Summary: Modern Classics vs. the Competition
| Feature | Modern Classics | Design Within Reach | Rove Concepts | Kardeil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base Price (Fabric and Steel Legs) | $ 1,000 | $ 3,044 | $ 619 | $ 535 |
| Upholstery Materials | ||||
| Chair Dimensions | ||||
| Chair Body | ||||
| Chair Legs | ||||
| Custom Options |
Feature Comparison: Modern Classics vs. the Competition
UPHOLSTERY MATERIALS
Modern Classics
We offer 20 colors of textured boucle 100% polyester fabric made in US, which is is considered a high performance fabric with 250k double-rubs, highly resistant to piling or fading, plus it has a stainguard built into the material. Using state of the art dying techniques, each dye lot is virtually the same and color matching is never an issue. We also offer 20 colors of italian leathers. There is also the option of providing your own fabric or leather for a minor custom upcharge.
Design Within Reach
Offered in a wide range of colors and fabric grades, however, their signature Classic Boucle is a low performance wool/nylon blend not known for its long life. Knoll also offers the chair in leather, in a wide variety of colors.
Rove Concepts
Offered in a very cheap fabric, a wool blend, that has no life span or stain protection. Will rapidly pil up. Unstable dye lots, so rarely can you get a complete set of chairs that look the same. Also offered in leather.
Kardiel Furniture
Offered in a very cheap fabric, a wool blend, that has no life span or stain protection. Will rapidly pil up. Unstable dye lots, so rarely can you get a complete set of chairs that look the same.
CHAIR DIMENSIONS
Modern Classics
Our frame dimensions are a very close match to the designer's original intent of the model. Our chair has the excellent sitting position, a flexible back and is light to move. Using a mold means consistant results from chair to chair.
Design Within Reach
The chair sold at DWR is the Knoll brand chair dimensions seem to be the same mold throughout the lifetime of their manufacturing.
Rove Concepts
Frame dimensions are a very different than the Signature version, in that, the chair sits more angled back and the chair is not as wide.
Kardiel Furniture
Frame dimensions are a very different than the Signature version, in that, the chair sits higher and does not closely resemble the Saarinen style chair at all.
CHAIR BODY
Modern Classics
Our chair shell is constructed of Fiber-reinforced polymer internal shell for greater strength than the other brands. The back is flexible, but sturdy. The chair cushion has a plywood bottom, with foam glued on top. Holes are placed for legs and seat cushion attachments.
Design Within Reach
Their chair shell is made of plastic, making it very light and flexible. The bottom of the chair cushion is also wood.
Rove Concepts
Their chair mold is made of carbon fiber, but we are not sure what that means. Carbon fiber tends to light, but very stiff. So whether that takes away from the comfort of the chair, is not known.
Kardiel Furniture
Their chair mold is severly messed up, their chair does not resemble the executive side chair.
CHAIR LEGS
Modern Classics
We offer two styles of legs: Solid Stainless Steel and Solid Wood. We use solid stock stainless steel while most others use tubular steel chrome plated. Our wood legs are North American Red Oak, steam bent to shape, then machine routered to form the signature look. We install a plastic foot on the bottom of each leg. We offer the wood legs in 5 colors, but we can color match to your stain color, for orders of 25 chairs or more. We can also powder coat the stainless steel legs using one of our standard colors, or your own selection.
Design Within Reach
TThe Knoll Saarinen Executive Side chair sold at DWR is offered with both steel and wood legs. The steel legs are chrone plated. The wood legs are steam bent oak with several stain colors. The steel legs seem to have an ackward pitch or angle, so the wood legs look much better. They also offer swivel base and swivel base with casters, which no one else on the market offers.
Rove Concepts
Rove uses solid stainless steel legs for their offering, but the angle and construction is quite different than ours and the Knoll version. Their wood legs are problematic, in that they use bent plywood legs, which are known to have a high failure rate. They also only offer one color of stain.
Kardiel Furniture
Kardeil uses solid stainless steel legs for their offering, but the angle and construction is quite different than ours and the Knoll version. Their wood legs are problematic, in that they use bent plywood legs, which are known to have a high failure rate. They also only offer one color of stain.
CUSTOM OPTIONS
Modern Classics
We offer the extreme flexibility on this model for customizing. First, there is the upholstery material. You can provide your own fabric or leather. You can do leather seat and fabric back (or vice versa). For larger volumes, we can custom match stain on the legs. We can powder coat the legs using one of our standard colors, or your own selection.
Design Within Reach
For a significant upcharge, Knoll will make a chair using your fabric or leather. They do not offer a custom stain option for their wood legs.
Rove Concepts
Rove does not offer custom modiifcations for their offering, in fabric, wood or anything.
Kardiel Furniture
Kardeil does not offer custom modiifcations for their offering, in fabric, wood or anything.
Product Description
The Saarinen Executive Arm Chair (Model 71 Executive Arm Chair Replica) was designed and introduced in 1948 by Saarinen as the second chair of his iconic Model 70 Series of chairs. (The other two chairs of this series are the Model 70 Womb Chair and the Model 72 Side Chair.) The Model 71 Executive Arm Chair was created specifically for the executive offices of the General Motors Technical School, for which Saarinen was also lead architect
The Model 71 Executive Arm chair maintains the same depressed-cone shape of the womb chairs, but removing the arms and the high back. The Executive Arm Chair was first prototyped out of sheet metal for testing, with the metal wrapped under the seat. To achieve the correct angle for the back, they place little kinks in the metal, which were later replaced with the back opening when the chair shell was molded out of fiberglass for production. Because of its production simplicity, the Model 72 Executive Arm Chair was conceived as a chair for large volume projects. But its refined form also makes it a good fit for any settling with a more residential feel.
Our version of the Saarinen Model 71 Executive Arm Chair is exceptional. Our internal shell is made of a molded polymer fiberglass and molded foam is placed over the shell. It is then upholstered and the legs are attached. Upholstery options include both our classic Italian leathers and our exclusive 100% polyester boucle fabric with stain guard. The Leg options we offer are either solid stainless steel with adjustable foot glides or solid wood legs with nylon foot glides. The stainless steel legs are solid stainless steel bar stock. Our wood legs are made of North American Red Oak, steam bent into shape and then finished in one of four colors, suitable for both commercial and residential applications.
LEATHER CHOICES
Modern Classics Furniture offers two levels of Top-Grain Italian Leathers. Each of the these groupings feature:
- Top-grain Italian leather from Grade A hides
- Semi aniline-dyed (standard) and 100% aniline-dyed (premium)
- Made in Italy and imported to our factory
- Have a UV and Moisture Guard built into the dye
- Are not split hides or bonded leather
We are happy to mail you a physical piece of leather so you can hold it in your hands.
Below are the leather colors we offer for this Collection. Our Standard Leathers (denoted with the prefix L1) are top-grain, aniline-dyed, and then color corrected with a slight embossing to create a more uniform grain pattern. Our Premium leathers (denoted with the prefix L2) are also top-grain, aniline-dyed but have a soft feel to them and much of the hides natural grain patterns are retained. All our leathers are considered equally durable and are ideal for home or commercial use. To read more about leather, read our A Guide to Understanding Upholstery Leather: A Primer.
Click on any of these images for an enlarged view.
Standard Leathers (Top Grain - Textured)
Boucle Fabric Choices
We offer our own exclusive collection "boucle" textured fabric in an extensive collection of colors that are particularly suited for the mid-century modern furniture we make. This fabric and colors were custom made just for us, at a well-known North America mill. Made of 100% polyester, our boucle's are soft, durable (250K double rubs), stain and UV resistant. We have arranged these swatches in color groups below.
We are happy to mail you a physical piece of fabric so you can hold it in your hands. Click on any of these swatches to see an enlarged view.
| Fabric Name: | Modern Boucle Fabric |
| Content: | 100% Post-Consumer recycled Polyester |
| Weight: | 22 oz/linear yard |
| Finish: | Greenshield™ (High Performance, Eco-friendly stain guard that beads liquids and easy to clean) |
| Abrasion Resistance: | 250,000 Double Rubs(ASTM D4157-13) |
| Crocking: | Wet: Class 5.0, Dry: Class 4.5 (AATCC 8) |
| Light Fastness: | Class 4.0 - 5.0 @ 40 hours (AATCC 16 3511) |
| Pilling Resistance: | Class 5.0 (ASTM D 3511) |
| Seam Slippage: | Warp: 79.5 lbs Fill: 133.0 lbs (ASTM D 4034) |
| Tensile Strength: | Warp: 177.0 lbs Fill: 234.0 lbs (ASTM D 5034) |
Boucle Fabric in 16 Colors:
Wood Choices
Click on any of these swatches to see an enlarged view.
Other Metal Frame Color Choices
Besides the standard #304 Polished Stainless Steel frames shown above, we do our own in-house powdercoating over the stainless steel frame. We offer 8 standard colors and there is a $100 extra charge for the custom frame finishing.
Click on any of these swatches to see an enlarged view.
