The furniture designer Hans J Wegner passed away in 2007. Hans was born in 1914 in Tonger, Denmark and became a well known figure and successful graduate of the Danish Modern School of Design. His style was using simple and clean lines that worked together to create beautiful and unobtrusive furniture (möbler).
Hans J Wegner began his career choice as a carpenter only to have it interrupted to serve in the military. Wegner was enrolled in Copenhagen Architectural Academy as well as the School of Arts and Crafts. He trained in a technical school for a time, and received professional training. Later he worked learning from the masters Erik Moller and Arne Jacobsen.
The thing he was most proficient at was building chairs. He viewed these items not only in terms of their functionality, but as sculpture. This philosophy extended to design, such that there should be no “back” to the structure. No matter which way one gazed at the chair, it would be engaging to look at. Not only should the finished product be fluid, it should never be boring. The construction would involve a variety of shapes and parts.
An innovation from 1970 was the pole light he created with his daughter. When he was entering competitions he varied from his basic chair concept and added his peacock design to make a more elaborate patterned piece of furniture (möbler). Beds, cabinets and tables were also included and after thoroughly testing it’s usefulness and appearance on himself, he also designed a valet chair.
Much of the furniture Hans J. Wegner is renowned for are chairs. One of his better-known designs was the 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.
Chair 25 was made in several different woods and had a paper rope used for the back and seat. Another interesting part of the design is that the side of the seat is one continuous curved piece that becomes the back legs. Many people think Chair 25 looks a lot like wicker furnishings, and it is often used with it. However, Wegner’s chair is in a whole other league from flimsy wicker.
Wegner did not name his designs, preferring only to assign them catalogue numbers. One Wegner model, the PP203, gained international exposure when a television network purchase a dozen of them, and they were subsequently seen in the Kennedy-Nixon 1960 election debates. They chose the design because of its clean lines, and simple design, but the chairs are also quite comfortable.
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Chairs are what Hans Wegner is best known for rather than the other home furnishings (hem mobler) he had designed, especially ch25 (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 angled and the load bearing front legs being straight. This lounge chair is much more stable than other chairs of that type that have been constructed.
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