You won’t find us sitting round a boardroom table very often. We’d much rather be out and about in markets and reclamation yards looking for pieces, ready for their next journey. Table tops, ship’s light fixtures, chairs, cabinets; where others may see an old, broken relic, we see a project and potential.

In this case, a contact I’ve known for over thirty years reached out to say he had suddenly come by a load of original Halabalas in various conditions. We love Halas because they look amazing, and because they are also incredibly comfortable and versatile. We have far more lounge chairs than we have space for, which means we’re able to constantly switch up our seating areas, keeping the space interesting for our members, and send pieces off for repairs and maintenance when the time comes. 

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Reclaimed fabric swatches

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With the new-found Halabalas, we decided to use end-of-line fabrics which would otherwise have been thrown away, keeping to the theme of breathing a new life into these classic pieces. Our trusted upholsterers are brothers Malcolm and Derek, who set up their upholstery business over 50 years ago, originally on the Hackney Road. Malcolm’s son Daniel also went on to study upholstery at the Guildhall and join the family business.

The end result is a collection of new-to-us chairs on the original Halabala style, with fresh upholstery to suit our style. They’re comfortable, chic, and also a stamp of beautiful sustainable action. Our policy of repair - reuse - recycle - rejuvenate is not only good for the planet, but makes our home a timeless, one-of-a-kind space to work and relax in.

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Jindřich Halabala

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The history of the Halabalas

The new chairs are Jindřich Halabala chairs, created by the Czech designer born in 1903. Jindřich Halabala started learning how to make furniture in his father’s joinery workshop. When he was 19, he enrolled in the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague, where he studied under Pavel Janák, a leader in the Czech Cubist movement. Shortly after graduating, Jindřich was hired as the chief designer at the United Woodcrafts Manufacturers company (UP) in Brno, where he changed the landscape of Czech, and subsequently European,  furniture design; forever.

Jindřich took his work very seriously, and believed that furniture should be well finished, completely functional, and affordable. He developed and created lines of furniture that were modular and affordable, producing these en masse. The result was a uniquely modern style of simple, high quality, affordable furniture.

There’s something amazing about knowing the chair you are sitting in, whether deep in emails, on a brain-storming call, or mulling over a nice cup of coffee, comes from a hundred year old legacy of care, comfort and inclusion.