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Hans Wegner: Danish Modern Icon

by Richard Guilfoyle

The year 2007 marked the passing of a great furniture designer, Hans J Wegner. He was born in Tonger, Denmark in 1914 and became recognized as the most successful and prominent figure in the Danish Modern School of Design. His style is based on clean and simple lines that work together to be beautiful and unobtrusive.

Hans J Wegner started out in carpentry, but that was interrupted by service in the military. Following this he trained in a technical school, later enrolling at Copenhagen Architectural Academy, as well as the School of Arts and Crafts for his professional training. Later on he worked under Erik Moller and Arne Jacobsen, both masters in the field.

His specialty was the construction of chairs, which he liked to think of as a work of art as well as something useful to sit upon. One of his well known philosophies was that a chair should look great from every side and that there should be no "back" but rather a flow around the chair. He wanted very simple and refined designs, but employed many different shapes and materials within his preferences.

He did not stop at basic chairs, though, going in to more complex designs like the 'peacock' style for competitions as well as some designs for tables, beds, and cabinets. He also created a valet chair, he used himself to design the chair to make certain that it both looked good and did the job it was intended for. He is also considered, along with his daughter, to be the inventor of the pole light, which came around in the 1970's.

Much of the furniture Hans J. Wegner is renowned for are chairs. One of his better-known designs was the wegner ch 25 from 1950. He crafted four chairs with woven seats for Carl Hansen and Son, but this design was unique in having rope weaving in both the seat and the back of the chair, along with engineering that had the front legs being straight and bearing most of the load. The rear legs were angled, allowing greater stability than most other lounge chairs of its type.

Many types of wood were used in making Chair 25 which had its back and seat made of paper rope. The seat's side of chair 25 is a continuous curved piece that works as back legs. This chair is sometimes mistaken for wicker furniture (möbler), But the fact remains that Wegner's chair is totally different in its make from the conventional wicker furniture (möbler).

Catalogue names were given to Hans J Wegner's work instead of design names. The PP203, for example, was an item seen by millions when used by television networks during the famous Kennedy-Nikon debates of 1960. The PP203 was chosen for its simple and clean lines, as well as being comfortable.

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Chairs are what Hans J Wegner is best known for rather than any other different furniture (annorlunda mobler) he had designed, especially ch 25 (or Chair 25) which was created in 1950. He designed four chairs with woven style seats for Carl Hansen and Son; however this was the only one with rope weaving in the seat and the back. It is also uniquely engineered with the back legs are angled and the load bearing front legs are straight. This lounge chair is much more stable than other chairs of that type that have been constructed.

Published December 10th, 2007

Filed in Hobby