I bought the Bertoia Chair in May,2001.
I've already own Eames Chair and some Mid Centuries Furniture.
so this is a new item for me.
This one is manufacture by Knoll. I'm not sure there was a branch office of Knoll in Japan or not at that time.
Anyway this became a nice interior item in my room.



Since then My Bertoia chair had been used without problem.
But one day I gave my weight to this chair a lot.
The edge part of the steel got a crack and broken.
I was not able to fix this problem. and I left it for a while.

One day, I found my friend that are able to fix this problem.
He is a professional of welding. and came to my place with a welding machine.



Fixed part is like this. You can see there are two places we fixed.
Edge steel and Second line steel.



After that, I repainted the fixed part and able to use this chair again.
And there was no problem for a while.



In March,2005 My Bertoia Chair had broken again. So I tried to contact my friend to fix this. But unfortunately He is not living near from my space. I coundn't fix this anymore. I have to find new person who can do welding. Also there was a knoll branch office in Japan. so I tried to request for fixing. and What I got from them was...
"We have no choice to fix this problem in Japan, so we recommend to send your Bertoia chair back to USA for get a perfect fixing. and it will cost and takes a time. If you are in a hurry, we suggest to buy new one. cost is almost same as fixing."
I understood what they said, but for me their suggestion was too much.
I simply wanted to fix my chair right now.



One day, I decided to fix this problem by myself. I bought the welding machine and did it like he did in the past.
The welding machine is non gas semi-automatic welder works with 100V.



Here you can see the new fixed part on left side. right side is the previous one.



Since then I was able to do welding works and this became a big pleasure for me. This gave me a big advantage for making a design.
and In 2017, I came up with nice idea.

"Can I make the Bertoia chair by myself? Is that possible?"

I don't know whether or not? but for finding an answer,
the only way was "Let's try!".
I get a measurements from Original Bertoia chair and cut pieces from steel rot.



Also Started to make the leg part. Without jig it was not easy to keep the measurements.



Outer frame was ready. I start feeling "I can do".



For mesh I used steel wire. Original chair using press welding for this part, but I have no skill for doing same, so amount of welding was huge but I did without break.



During this process I was able to feel how the Bertoia chair has developed. Following the design process is very important matter for designer. I enjoy a lot and this experience was non fogettable for me.



Soon it's a goal. It's a not easy work. but I could see the goal in near future.



And it's done.
I spraied into silver.

"I did it. Thanks Bertoia and thanks Knoll and thanks to everyone."






No one will recognize this chair was duplicated by me. Hahaha...

If there is a chance to see the official production process, I would love to see it.