Bjørn Engø Manta Ray Trapez Chair

Currently in original upholstery our price includes stripping and fully re-upholstering the chair in the buyer’s choice of fabric , but excludes the fabric.

The actual name of this fantastic chair is Trapez, but everyone is calling it Manta Ray because of it’s beautiful shape. They rarely turn up for sale and all the others we’ve seen online are in teak and don’t have the lovely cane ring to the headrest. This one must be an early version as it’s identical to the one illustrated in Mats Lindor’s book on Bjørn Engø in that it has an oak base with teak detailing and the cane ring. This mix of oak and teak was popular in around 1958-62 but must have been more expensive to produce. We think the more common later versions are the ones in teak.

It’s labelled for Westnofa but was produced by the smaller Møre Lenestol Fabrikk A/S. The teak ones are sometimes described as being imported through Dux ( a large Swedish company ), so maybe Møre Lenestol Fabrikk A/S didn’t have any direct sales outside Norway. This chair came from the same source as a rare Troeds sideboard and a lovely Swedish dining table so the original owners may have sourced furniture in Sweden. The design dates to around 1958. This is the high back version.

All we knew about the chair when we bought it was the Westnofa label. We then discovered the designer and that there was a Norwegian design author called Mats Lindor who has written a number of excellent books on Norwegian and Swedish designers ( in Norwegian and English ). We managed to contact the publisher and order some of his books and were told we were the first UK buyer! The buyer of the chair will be given a copy of the book.

87cms at it's widest, 37cms seat height, 95cms back height

Condition
The oak and teak base has been cleaned and oiled and look great. Our in-house upholsterer will totally re-upholster the chair to meet current UK Fire Regulations in the fabric of your choice ( at cost ) or you can provide your own fabric. We have accounts with Abraham Moon, Camira and Romo.