Revolt or Result? Buying older Dutch chairs for a dining table

Two designs with a shared industrial idea

Ahrend’s own history credits the Revolt to Friso Kramer in 1953 and the Result to Kramer and Wim Rietveld in 1958. It also records the Result’s 2017 relaunch with HAY. The names share a history, but one is not simply an older spelling of the other.^[1]

Their pressed-sheet-metal approach gives these chairs a different visual character from a conventional round-tube café chair. Look at the actual frame and its connections to the seat and back, then compare with a documented example of the claimed design. A seller grouping several industrial chairs under “Friso Kramer” has not completed that comparison.

For the Result, Vintage Design Point records a specific older example with a grey sheet-steel frame and birch-plywood seat and back, measuring 79 cm high, 45 cm wide and 50 cm deep. That is a useful specimen description, not a standard for every Result or evidence for a different chair in another listing.^[2]

For the design’s background, read Revolt’s design history in the Furniture Library.

A familiar shape can contain a different material

HAY explicitly describes the seat and back of its 2020 Revolt relaunch as a mix of virgin and recycled ABS. That is evidence about the relaunch. It cannot establish the material of a much older chair, and it should not become a cleaning or restoration instruction for one.^[3]

Ask for labels and purchase history, but keep a separate record of what you can actually see: edges, underside, fixing positions and any replacement panels. If a seller calls a component plywood, plastic, fibreboard or a branded sheet material, ask what supports that description. Do not sand an edge to prove it.

A later authorised chair may suit you perfectly. Pay for it on that basis rather than paying an old-production premium because the model was designed in the 1950s.

Compare the backs for more than a photograph

Bring the chairs to the same table if possible. Sit far enough back for normal eating, then turn to talk to someone alongside. Notice where the back touches you, whether its upper edge feels intrusive and whether you keep sliding forwards. Personal comfort is not settled by the manufacturer’s description of flexibility.

Compare the lowest obstruction beneath the table with your thighs and the seat, including any cushion you intend to add. A loose pad changes the sitting height and usable depth. Test the final arrangement rather than buying a hard seat and assuming that any cushion will solve it.

Look at the legs with the chair pulled out as well as tucked in. Splayed frames can occupy a useful corner of floor that the seat alone conceals. In a small kitchen, the best chair may be the one that lets another person pass without a daily shuffle.

A set needs one comparison per chair

Number the offered chairs in photographs and note differences in panels, glides, fixings and frame condition. Check exposed edges for splitting or damaged material, and have loose connections assessed before use. Do not deliberately flex a questionable back to find its limit.

Choose a consistent set if matching feel matters, or a deliberate mixture if you enjoy the variation. Either can work. What you want to avoid is buying a supposedly identical set and discovering that each place at dinner feels different.