These vintage dining chairs are precious and rare things. Designed by Lucian Ercolani (of course!) and made by Ercol, the model 306 chair was manufactured from 1955-1970. Not to be confused with the later model 376 dining chair, this was the original, earlier version of what came to be known as the ‘candlestick’ chair, differentiated by its fiddle-shaped elm seat, rather than the more common oyster shape. Its hand-built design is extraordinary, featuring four pairs of crisscrossing back spindles, double cross-stick stretchers underneath the seat and a bowed top bar. The particular Ercol blue maker’s label on the back of the seats tells us this set date specifically from 1955-1957. Ercolani knew that daily-use dining chairs needed to be robust and comfortable but they also needed to look good from the back when tucked in around a table. And these chairs look so striking with that lattice of beech back spindles. Notoriously hard to find in good order because of their age and every-day service, this quartet have been carefully restored, a real labour of love.
