Danish architect Hans J. Wegner is considered a pioneering furniture designer of the twentieth century.
Designer bio
As a driving force behind 'Danish Modern', Hans J. Wegner helped
change the general public's view of furniture in the 1950s and
1960s. His passion for designing chairs, more than 500 of them, is
recognized worldwide and reflected in his title 'the Master of the
Chair'. He is famous for integrating perfectly executed joints with
exquisite shapes and combining them with a constant curiosity for
materials and deep respect for wood and its natural
characteristics. His designs furnish minimalism with organic and
natural softness.
Hans J. Wegner was born in 1914 in Tønder in Southern Denmark,
the son of a shoemaker. At the age of 17, he completed his
apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker in the workshop of H. F. Stahlberg
where his first designs saw the light of day. At the age of twenty
he moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, to attend the School of Arts and
Crafts, where he studied from 1936-1938 before embarking on a
career as an architect.
In 1940, Wegner joined Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller and began
designing furniture for the new City Hall in Aarhus, Denmark's
second-largest city. This was also the year when Wegner began
working with master cabinetmaker Johannes Hansen, who played a
major role in introducing modern design to the Danish public.
Hans J. Wegner opened his own drawing office in 1943. In 1944,
he designed the first China Chair in a series inspired by Chinese
chairs from the Ming dynasty. One of these chairs, the Wishbone
Chair, designed in 1949 and produced by Carl Hansen & Søn since
1950, went on to become Wegner's most successful design of all
time.
Hans J. Wegner is considered one of the most creative and
productive Danish furniture designers of all time. He has received
several accolades given to designers, including the Lunning Prize
in 1951 and The 8th International Design Award in 1997.
He became an honorary member of the Royal Danish Academy for the
Fine Arts in 1995, and an honorary doctor of the Royal College of
Art in 1997. Almost all of the world's major design museums, from
The Museum of Modern Art in New York to Die Neue Sammlung in
Munich, feature his furniture in their collections. Hans J. Wegner
died in Denmark in January 2007 - at the age of 92.
Carl Hansen & Søn's alliance with Hans J. Wegner began in
1949 and resulted in the production of a wide range of Wegner
designs spanning dining chairs, easy chairs, footrests, sofas and
coffee tables, dining tables as well as high-end office furniture
and children's furniture. Wegner's iconic designs from Carl Hansen
& Son include the Shell Chair, Wing Chair and Wishbone
Chair.
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Experience Wegner's
iconic Wishbone Chair
Watch
the making of the Wishbone Chair