Have you found an interesting piece of old furniture in your garage that you think might be a Lloyd Loom chair? Here’s how to tell.
The famous Lloyd Loom weave is identified as a machine-woven kraft paper, tightly twisted around a steel wire core for strength. The loom weaves the material continuously, which is then cut to size and secured to the chair frame with nails. The typically curved edges of this furniture are provided with a bentwood frame made from solid beech.
Pre- and Post-War Identifiers
Most Lloyd Loom chairs were crafted before 1940 and feature this curved Bentwood styling. More modern pieces have squared-off legs and solid beech frames – seen in styles like the Abbot chair.
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Identifying Imports
This make of furniture is produced in Indonesia and then brought to the UK for sale. One sign of an import is if the legs of the chair come wrapped – this is because the cane frame is paper-wrapped to disguise the underlying cane structure. Find out more at https://lloydlooms.co.uk/.
Features of the Weave
The weave will nearly always be uniform with horizontal strands of paper twists that are 2mm thick. To test authenticity, use a strong magnet and see if it will stick to a vertical strand weave. If it does, it may be authentic, as the chairs contain metal wire inside each vertical paper strand. Other types of chair made from wicker, rattan and sirrom don’t have this interior wire feature, so the magnet will fall off.
Sirrom Chairs
Sirrom chairs can be easily confused with Lloyd Loom models because they have similar braiding and use a comparable colour palette such as green, gold and pink. However, the weave structure is different and flatter. Sirrom chairs were produced in Nottingham from 1889 by Morris, Wilkinson and Co. alongside the well-known Sirrom Colurtex furniture range and Sirrom prams.
Key Features of Original Lloyd Loom
Another way to identify a Lloyd Loom original is to flip it over and look for the original paper label – if it still exists, as they are very fragile. Some models will also have an original data stamp next to the paper label or underneath. However, pieces that date from before 1931 tend not to have date stamps, and any original chairs which have been repainted will have likely lost this.