The Finished Chair.

After welding a few cross bars, and then cutting them free...

...we determined the need for a nifty fixture to hold the side rails in place:

Once everything was locked down, we started welding in the remaining cross bars.  Because the different radii of the cross members translate directly to the eventual comfort of the chair,  each piece required a notable level of fiddling to position properly.
       After welding all cross members, we built the final tools; two small bending jigs for the 1/8 bars (wire) that form the seat and back of the chair.

After making 38 pieces, we started welding them in place:

And next thing ya know, we were sitting down on the job.

Through some rigorous R and D testing, (we each sat in a chair and consumed one ice cold beer, switching seats half way through) we determined the comfort level of the two chairs to be equal. The visual appearance is also dang near identical.