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£3,495.00
Model H269 Armchairs By Jindřich Halabala Circa 1930s

Product code #OA1985

- Worldwide shipping
- All prices inc VAT
- All prices inc UK shipping
- Price is for the pair
- Bentwood ornate frames
- Sprung seats
- New charcoal grey velvet upholstery
- Designed by Jindřich Halabala
- Produced by UP Závody
- Czech ~ 1930s
- 71cm tall x 81cm deep x 71cm wide

Jindřich Halabala

Czech industrial designer, writer, and educator Jindřich Halabala was a significant proponent of modernist, industrially manufactured furniture in Czechoslovakia and had a tremendous influence on the interior design of many interwar and postwar Czech homes.

Born in 1903 in Koryčany, Halabala spent his formative years training as a cabinetmaker in his father’s joinery workshop before entering the state-owned woodworking school in Valašské Meziříčí in 1920. He completed his practical studies with woodworking company Associated Arts & Crafts Enterprises, known as UP (Spojené Uměleckoprůmyslové Závody), in Brno. Halabala subsequently studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague under Czech modernist architect-designer Pavel Janák (1881-1956). After graduating in 1926, Halabala worked briefly at the studio of Bohumil Hübschmann in Prague, until he was hired by UP. Halabala quickly became the firm’s development manager, responsible for product promotion and sales strategy—a position he maintained until 1946. Believing that furniture should be fully functional, modular, mobile, and widely affordable, Halabala advocated for a new mass-market approach to furnishing, ultimately pioneering industrial furniture manufacturing in Czechoslovakia.

Halabala’s designs include chairs, tables, sideboards, drawers, flower stands, couches, lamps, and more, with an aesthetic that drew from Czech Cubism, Art Déco, and classic European mid-century modernism. During the 1930s, he developed the modular series H and E, as well as various types of wooden and tubular steel pieces inspired by Bauhaus designers Mart Stam (1899-1986) and Marcel Breuer (1902-1981). These cantilevered designs, which were produced in UP's Hodonín branch, are highly sought-after today on the vintage market.

Other Halabala designs include the H-269 Lounge Chair (early 1930s)—arguably the most well-known Czech design, instantly recognizable for its exaggerated, curved armrests; the spider-like H-370 Coffee Table (1930s); and the adjustable H-70 Lounge Chair (1930s), to name a few. Like his Scandinavian contemporaries Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) and Bruno Mathsson (1907-1988), Halabala utilized bentwood in most of his chair designs.

Condition Report

Fully restored with new upholstery, the arms show some very light signs of cosmetic wear and have been given several coats of wax.

As with all of our products this product is an original piece and has lived a life before it arrived at Otto's HQ. It has been sympathetically restored by the Otto's team to ensure it has a life for many more years to come. All of our products will show signs of patina and cosmetic wear, this we believe is what gives our products their unique charm. If you have any further questions regarding the condition of this product or any others please don't hesitate to contact us and we'll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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