Tessa Vintage Furniture

By Frank Parker

What is Tessa Furniture?

Tessa Furniture is an iconic name in Australian furniture manufacturing being a prolific name during the heydays of the local furniture industry. We know re-furbished mid-century modernist furniture with a Scandinavian influence is a niche market. However the interest not only resides with those who have been fortunate to have witnessed this period of design history. Some discerning members of the younger generations are purchasing or inheriting or purchasing second hand Tessa furniture and having it restored.

Why is Tessa Furniture So Popular?

As per the above photographs Tessa lounges are extremely well designed and soundly constructed. This Tessa lounge suite was originally purchased in 1972. When the Tasmanian Blackwood timber was sanded and re-polished and new webbing and cushioning were re-upholstered – it looks amazing!

Tessa Furniture History

Tessa originally was known as Twen commencing operation in 1968. It then changed its name to Tessa in 1970. Tessa was formed by Fred Lowen, his brother Howard Lindsey and design technician Sigi Danielzik. Fred however commenced furniture manufacturing with Ernest Rodeck in the mid 1950’s having formed FLER which was sold in 1967. Tessa expanded operations during the 1970’s to become a national operation with international links.

Call Us So We Can Help You Restore Your Special Furniture

Similar Posts

  • Restoration of Club Lounge

    ByFrank Parker
    Reupholster Club Lounge Perth

    What we generally recognise as Australian styled ‘club lounges’ were made from the late 1920’s through to the mid 1950’s. This design was not uniquely Australian however it was very popular in Australia during this era and the suite featured is typical of this period however many variations were available.

    These lounge suites all featured the wide arms, usually with timber trays and bases but some also had decorative timber trim on the arm facings. The upholstery finishes were also available in a wide variation of finishes. This included cord trim, contrast piping and raised panel patterns on the inside backs.

    A client approached us who is from a prominent furniture manufacturing family to restore their ‘club lounge’. This club lounge was not a family heirloom but a design from the era they had always found interesting and destined for their retirement home. It is always an honour to be asked by a contemporary to restore a favourite piece of furniture however the expectations are always as equally high.

    We stripped the 3 seater and 2 chairs down to the bare frames, removed the show-wood components then screwed the joints together. The timber arm trays were so badly damaged leaving us with no option than to completely replace them however the front base strips were sanded back and re-used have receiver three coats of lacquer.

    The bases and backs were re-webbed with jute webbing then the coil springs laced in, tied down and covered with heavy weight hessian. We then used synthetic ‘thumb roll’ to build up the edges and laminated layers of premium foam over the bases, arms and inside backs until the desired shapes were achieved. Flutes were sewn into the inside back covers and the suite was trimmed with contrast piping. The seat cushion inserts were fabricated by laminating various densities of premium foam then encasing them with bonded polyester fibre. The outside arms and outside backs were all lined padded providing a superior finish.

    The result was that we had brought furniture made about 80 years ago back to life. We trust the new owners will receive many years of enjoyable use of their furniture. However from a trade persons perspective we often wonder, what would those who originally made the furniture think of it now?

    Call us Today

  • Reupholster Art Deco Chairs

    ByFrank Parker

    From our understanding these chairs were made in Czechoslovakia in the late 1920’s, manufacturer unknown. For their time the construction techniques used are quite advanced utilising a ‘push-in seat’ and back flutes located with spring-edge wire. However the most significant thing about these chairs is the general proportion and balance of the design.

    A client contacted us saying that she had acquired two art deco European chairs requiring restoration. Upon initial inspection we found the chairs had been shabbily re-upholstered and covered in decades of grime. As we stripped away the fabric on these chairs it exposed some of the original upholstery providing enough information for an authentic reconstruction.

    The first step was several construction repairs to the timber frames then removing the layers of grime. The show-wood components of the frames were then gently sanded back, stained a mid-tone Oak then three coats of clear lacquer. Then with the upholstery we re-constructed the sprung edge seats and backs by lacing in the springs, fabricated the spring edge wire and tying down the springs. We then sewed on the hessian overlays and ring-clipped on polyurethane edge moulding. The seats and backs were then layered with premium foam and polyester overlays. The client’s fabric selection suited the chairs and was practical to upholster. The panels were cut being carefully pattern matched then largely pre-sewn but requiring some hand stitching.

    The re-furbishing of these chairs combined traditional methods with modern materials however did not compromise the design integrity. Our client was overjoyed with the result and the chairs now take pride of place in her lounge room.

    Call us Today

  • Re-upholster Chess Lounge Furniture

    ByFrank Parker

    Chess Lounge Furniture originally commenced operations in the early 1970’s as BGF Furniture being a business partnership between Stan Bishop, Rod Grayson and Charles Farmer. Several years after commencement Charles Farmer left the business and it became Bishop & Grayson Furniture then in the late 70’s Rod Grayson left the business and it became Bishop Lounge Furniture. In the mid 80’s Stan Bishop retired and his foreman Paul Demopolis with his wife Glenis took over the business under the name of Chess Lounge Furniture. Paul and Glenis retired in about 2010 and ceased operations.

    Throughout the history of this business from BGF Furniture to Chess Lounge Furniture they manufactured custom made mid-range furniture. This furniture was always soundly constructed and represented good value for money.

    Our clients approached us wanting to re-upholster a three seater purchased from Chess Lounge Furniture in the late 1980’s. This settee was part of a co-ordinated lounge suite including two wing back chairs however they were downsizing and had decided to only keep the settee.

    The upholstery was completely removed from the timber frame, new seat springing and back webbing was fitted along with new high density body padding. All the cushion inserts were replaced. The seats were polyester encased premium cushioning and the backs were polyester filled channelled and quilted inserts. Our clients wanted to slightly modernise this settee so we eliminated the skirts replacing it with a padded border and replaced the black nylon glides with Jarrah turned feet. The fabric selected was a contemporary design lined yet printed with a traditional colour pallet. The result was a settee with a new lease of life retaining its character in a new setting.

    Call us Today

  • Refurbish Lincoln Furniture

    ByFrank Parker

    The Background to Lincoln Furniture Nedlands W.A.

    Richard Laurence the founder of Lincoln Furniture worked in the upholstered furniture industry in California USA and immigrated with his family to Perth Western Australia in the late 1960’s. He initially worked with Perth furniture retailers for several years to gain an understanding of the local industry then commenced Lincoln Furniture.

    Reupholstering a Lincoln Lounge Suite

    This Lincoln lounge suite consisting of 2 x 2 ½ seater settees and 2 x chairs was purchased in 1978 from the Perth furniture store – Lincoln Furniture. Lincoln Furniture was established in Perth in the early 1970’s and the company operated until the early 1990’s. This Nedlands based furniture manufacturer used to produce high quality traditional American style furniture. Parker Furniture had the privledge to beautifully reupholstered this lounge furniture to restore it for its appreciative Western Australian owners. The lounge was originally constructed with a unique sprung edge utilising no sag springs which was an American system and had previously not used by Australian lounge furniture manufacturers.

     

    Call us To Have Your Old Lounge Suite Reupholstered

  • Trustyle Furniture

    ByFrank Parker

    Truestyle evolved from a lounge furniture manufacturing business which came into existence as W. E. Young & Co. The business was founded by Bill and Beryl Young who came to WA from Victoria starting the manufacturing business in the late 1950’s originally located in Claverton Street east Perth. In the late 1960’s the business relocated to Osborne Park.  The business was then taken over by several of the employees in the mid 1970’s with Colin Bainbridge running operations. The business then shifted to River road Bayswater to a purpose built factory.

    Trustyle manufactured styles incorporating show-wood frames with the furniture being in the upper middle class for price and quality always being considered good value for money in the industry.

    A client contacted us wishing to have her Trustyle lounge suite and dining chair seats re-upholstered. The Lounge suite was over thirty years old but remained structurally sound. It was originally upholstered in a patterned transfer print which were popular in the late 80’s and early 90’s but she decided to have the furniture re-upholstered in a plain chenille.

    This was a straight forward job, we replaced the elastic webbing laminated new high density arm foam and fabricated new premium foam seat and back cushions encasing them with bonded polyester fibre. The upholstery was also relatively simple and back to original including the buttoning.

    Our client was happy as her favourite piece of furniture was back to new condition and hopefully she will have many years of enjoyable use.

    Call us Today

  • Refurbish TV Chairs & Daynite sofa

    ByFrank Parker

    “TV chairs” and “Daynite sofas” became popular from the late 1950’s and remained in production through to the early 1970’s. This coincided with the introduction of television and the modern appliance age. Today we generally refer to TV chairs and Daynite sofas as mid-century furniture which has regained popularity amongst novices and enthusiasts of this era. This furniture setting was made in W.A. by Condor Furniture in Osborne Park owned by the Trethowan family.

    This set of TV chairs and Daynite sofa were presented to us by our client who wanted them completely refurbished to original condition. The existing upholstery was striped to the frames then the frames sanded back to raw timber. The timber frames were constructed from Nyatoh, a Malaysian timber which is ideal for this type of furniture. The frames were then stained brown teak and three coats of clear lacquer applied.

    The new upholstery started with replacing the no-sag springs then fabricating polyester encased premium cushion inserts. The upholstery fabric selected was similar to the original covering being a flat woven rust coloured fabric.

    The result was a refurbished classic mid-century lounge setting that took our clients back to the time of their initial purchase. We have no doubt that just as nostalgic memories will be relived good times are still to come for our clients to enjoy their furniture.

    Call us Today