$1,700.00

SOLD IN THE FIRST DAY IT WAS LISTED FOR MORE THAN THE OFFERS OVER PRICE!

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Description

Being sold from our vendor’s home near GLEN IRIS, MELBOURNE. Freight of this full suite within Melbourne would be about $140. It would cost about $380 to get this full suite to SYDNEY.

OFFERS OVER $1,700 PER CHAIR. OFFERS OVER $3,400 FOR BOTH chairs will be considered more favourably. OFFERS OVER $5,800 for BOTH chairs and the matching 3-seater SLED-BASED sofa will be given precedence over any other offer. The sled-based sofas are very popular and hard to get. I’ve seen a 3-seater sofa in the sled-based design priced at $5,000 in Melbourne. The sleek refined look is perfect for today’s homes- minimalist- there’s a small visual and physical footprint with these.

RRP NEW of the full 3-piece suite in 2019 (when Tessa went out of business)- approx. $15,000!

This suite is extremely rare! I’ve never seen a Tessa T21 suite in these colours before. This suite started it’s life as a Tessa T1 suite in black vinyl (they could choose vinyl back then). It was purchased by my vendor’s mother in 1971- it has been in this family since new. In the early-1990’s, my vendor took the suite to Tessa for an update. Tessa themselves re-upholstered the suite. My vendor has a receipt from Tessa- the brochures she found when she got the suite re-upholstered has the prices of re-upholstery hand-written on them (along with the leather sample that the vendor chose). $986 per chair and $2,186 for the sofa. TOTAL cost of re-upholstery = $4,158. With inflation, $4,158 in 1993 is worth $9,700 (in 2025). NOTE- this leather was NOT a standard offering from Tessa. The vendor specifically asked for Tessa to get samples from their leather supplier to get this colour. This colour is in trend today but not in the 1990’s. This suite is lighter in tone with a modern twist. Whilst the colour is considered “modern” and “timeless” by today’s standards, this was not the case in the 1990’s. Tessa T21 suites are nearly always dark colours which creates a very bold stance. The tones here pare back the overall style and visual dominance. Tessa suites in lighter tones ALWAYS fetch more money because they are virtually impossible to find (and have more of a “Scandinavian aesthetic”). The sled-base adds to the appeal here- and it’s a 3-SEATER as well- further adding to the rarity. Tessa T21 suites with a lighter timber tone rarely come up, particularly with a 3-seater sofa. This timber tone is always very hard to get with T21 furniture.

NOTE- if a strong offer comes through for just the 3-seater sofa or the pair of swivel chairs, the suite will be broken up. If you want the full suite express your interest asap.

Background Info and Provenance

(This description was written in 2019 and updated in 2025. Some information may be time-sensitive.)

This suite is absolutely stunning, it has an intriguing look with these lighter tones, creating a beautiful look and frames the chair. The timber is as Mother Nature intended- no two pieces are the same, this creates such a soulful, organic feel- you will never find another suite exactly the same as this one!

The Tessa T21 design is arguably the most sought-after chair to ever come out of Australia. The Contour range by Grant Featherston is probably the most collectable in terms of dollar-value, but this design, the T21 swivel chair, released by Tessa (as the T1) in 1971 is, in my experience, the most asked-for chair. The value of Tessa T21 furniture sky-rocketed during COVID-19 lockdowns- the popularity increased VERY quickly (and NOTICEABLY) since the first T21 suite I ever sold (which was back in March 2020 just before the first lockdown). After 24-years in this business, this is about the 5th time I’ve had Tessa T21 furniture in lighter tones.

I completely understand why so many people want this furniture! The quality just jumps out at you and the comfort … OMG … after sitting in one of these chairs I didn’t want to get up! But alas I had to get to work photographing the suite.

After a 50-year stint in the Australian Marketplace, making virtually ALL their furniture in AUSTRALIA, Tessa Furniture died late in 2019. It’s a sad state of affairs when an Australian business can no longer do what they do so well because of cheap imports destined to end up as landfill. And this is the very reason why Tessa eventually died. Their designs are so well-made that the second-hand market for Tessa pieces ended up becoming more sought-after than new Tessa Furniture. And who can blame people going straight to the second-hand market for designs such as these? The QUALITY of these chairs is so exceptional that second-hand pieces often still look basically new after 10, 20, 30, 40 … even 50 years of use. In this listing the swivel chairs look close to new but they’re about one third the price of new ones.

Today in 2025, I believe this chair- the T21 swivel chair- by Tessa, is THE best investment in the furniture marketplace. T21 chairs retailed NEW in FULL-GRAIN leather for about $4,400 EACH just before Tessa went under- at my price (much less than half retail) it should be obvious to anybody that the only way the value of these vintage chairs can go in the future, is up.

This Tessa suite is 55 years years old and just look at it! No guessing the quality here. After much of the world’s furniture ends up as landfill, this suite will be passed onto another user and eventually a whole new generation. Now that Tessa Furniture is not made anymore, I can’t see any reason why this design (made in AUSTRALIA) won’t slowly increase to the value they were selling for new (ie. $4,400 EACH). There’s no better way I can think of to invest in your home, the future of our environment and support local small business.

2509

Both Tessa T21 swivel chairs are in excellent condition for a suite that's 55 years old (that was reupholstered over 30 years ago). Both chairs have minor signs of use- no abuse and certainly nothing that detracts. There is minor scuffing to the leather on the back from where it has rubbed against a wall- not noticeable from a short distance away (as is demonstrated in our photos). Both chairs are heavy and very solidly built- the T21 design is particularly strong and durable. I've never seen anything structurally wrong with a T21 Tessa chair ever- these chairs are no exception. The swivel mechanism on both chairs also works perfectly. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The 3-seater sofa is also in excellent condition overall. The leather on 2 cushions shows use. With one, the use is quite significant and the other has some very minor loss of the surface colour only. The cushion showing significant use is still useable as is and to be honest I think there's another 10 years use in it (this is FULL-GRAIN LEATHER- this leather wears very slowly- particularly if you clean and condition it regularly. (This suite went through a time when this didn't happen. It has now been cleaned and conditioned ready for the next custodian). Overall, there's NO careless damage at all. NO holes, NO cuts, NO breaks in the leather. The leather on the "bad" cushion is in "together" condition and is still quite strong. There is no weakness in the worn area. I have represented a suite in the past where the customer got a good colour match for their T21 leather furniture and got the 3 seat cushions on the sofa re-upholstered only. This significantly reduced the cost of re-upholstery. The 3 loose seat cushions with the new leather were taken to professional with a sewing machine and the sewing work was done at a fraction of the normal cost. Click on the Magnifying tool to enlarge each photo- then click on the enlarged photo to Supersize it. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The cushioning is all in excellent condition- Tessa use top-quality cushioning that lasts several generations. The cushioning is plush and comfortable. The chairs are very supportive as well. The original webbing is strong and supportive. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Overall, the full suite presents very well and will last for years to come. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Measurements. Across- 80cm. (With the armrest protectors on). Depth- 79cm. Seat Height- 42cm. Total Height- 92cm. Depth of seat- 47cm. Comfort is absolutely sensational- you'd be very hard-pressed to find a more comfortable chair. High-back and PERFECT angles for sitting comfort and proper support. Measurements for the 3-seater sofa (type Tessa 3-seater sofa into our SEARCH box and you'll find these with other Tessa suites we've sold in the past. Across- cm. Depth- cm. Total height- cm. Seat height- cm. Depth of seat- cm. Read my 1200+ ebay feedback comments (ALL for furniture and decorative arts SALES) to be assured that the lounges are described as accurately as possible and that I will not purchase items of inferior quality or with significant cosmetic flaws.
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