Hi everyone!
We had a really cool email from Reader Rémi in France!
Please read:
Hi
I had the opportunity to buy last year 13 shells in a really bad shape.
I found them in the backyard af an antique shop in brooklyn, i came 3 times to the shop before the seller show them to me.
Finally i baught all of them for 250 usd.
Some of the mounts were missing, the fiberglass was covered of dirt , and as they were staked with screws, i had on each shell 4 cracks due to the screw of the top chair.
I baught them with out the legs.
My idea was to restore them, keep 6 for me and sell the other ones on ebay in france, so that i could get my chairs for free.
I found you website and i can tell, that it is the best one on the internet for restoration, i have spent so many hours on the internet, your tutorial is the best.
I found easyly on internet and ebay, shockmounts, dowel bases, epoxy, and i baught the famous penetrol that i braught back to france.
It took me one year to renew all the chairs.
Below are some pictures before and after, just enjoy….
By the way, a question i couldn’t find the answer:
all the shells have à “Z” embossed between the 2 back shockmounts does it means “zenith plastics”?
they also have a “S” in a circle, i was told that means cinncinaty millicrons, if you know it would be helpfull.
One another thing that would be great is to have explanations of all the letters embossed under the chairs, as i know herman miller contracted different manufacturers for the shells
(i know, “zenith plastics” / “cincinnaty millicrons” / “vitra” for europe.
I did it exactly the way you explained it on the tutorial.
The extra thing i did, i used the magic sponge from mister clean to clean the dirt that was in the fiber, it’s a little bit hard and long but the result is great.
I’m now starting my business and my company, cause i had opportunities to buy other chairs, as i’m coming to the US to work 4 times à year.
I just buy the shells, they are easy to pack and ship, i get the bases in europe.
I can tell you that one year ago, i didn’t know anything about restoration,
thanks a lot to you guys.
Rémi Deschamps
from France
Its so cool to hear really great success stories like this! Well done to you Rémi!!
Here are some of his pictures!
Remi-
1. your Z stamp can stand for ‘Zenith’ the plastics manufacturer or more likely it is a brand for what they referred to as “ZENALLOY” the material they were trying to advertise for the new molded seats.
2. does your Z chair carry the roped edge?
