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I have a long rectangular table in my loft that seats 10. It's got a frosted glass surface set within a maple frame. The current chairs--Karim Rashid's Oh chair, ten of which which I bought in 2002-- are translucent white plastic, which create a nice dialog with the frosted glass. I need to replace them, however, because the white plastic is turning a particularly rancid shade of yellow.
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I don't expect plastic to last forever, especially on chairs for which I paid something like $50 apiece, but I was shocked at the dialog I had with the clerk at the Karim Rashid store on West 19th Street when I went in to look at a more upscale Rashid model, the Skool, made of molded plywood with a birch veneer. ( I like Rashid's design sense, so despite the metamorphosing chairs--which are still very comfortable--I wanted to test drive a new model.)
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Oh no. My translucent white chairs have turned translucent yellow
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Me: I have to replace my Oh chairs. They're turning yellow.
Clerk: How long have you had them?Me: About seven years.
Clerk: Well, I guess it's time.
Me: But I hadn't expected them to turn yellow!
Clerk: Why? Things don't last forever. Besides, you only paid about $50 each.
Me: Price is not the point. They used to be white and how they're yellow.
Clerk: Well, it's not as if they fell apart.
Me: But they turned a different color.
Clerk: Plastic changes color.
Me: Not all plastic changes color in such a short time. If I'd known the plastic would turn so fast, I wouldn't have bought them.
Clerk: Well, if we'd told you that, you wouldn't have bought them, would you?
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It took a moment for me to process that.
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Me: So the company doesn't stand behind its product?
Clerk: For $50 chairs? Don't be ridiculous.
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There was no point in being ridiculous enough to consider the $200-apiece Skool chairs, then, because I need 10 of them. I left. The store lost a sale.
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Next stop: Ikea, where I can get three-quarters of the design for less than one quarter of the price.
Lesson learned: Elegant as it is, I won't be purchasing this molded birch ply Karim Rashid Skool chair, above, but I will consider these from Ikea (I'm leaning toward the one on the right; price: $49).
