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Hans Wegner: Master Of Chair Design

by Richard Guilfoyle

In 2007, the great furniture designer Hans J Wegner passed away. He entered this world in Tonger, Denmark, 93 years ago and over time became the most successful and noticed individual at the Danish Modern school of design. His beautiful and unobtrusive style is composed of clean and simple lines.

Hans J Wegner started his career as a woodworker. Unfortunately, he was called to serve his country. He continued his training at a school that specialized in technical skills. Then he became a student at the Copenhagen Architectural Academy as well as the School of Arts and Crafts for additional training. Later, he studied with the masters Erik Moller and Arne Jacobsen.

Designing chairs as a work of art and a comfortable piece of furniture was his area of expertise. He believed that a chair should look good from every angle. Also, he felt it should be viewed without a front or back but instead with one continuous movement around the chair. He liked his chairs to have a simplicity and sophistication, but used a variety of materials and shapes to design the pieces.

He extended his thoughts beyond the fundamental style. Among the chairs to arise were the "peacock" style as well as complementary tables and furniture (möbler). He experimented with the comfort of his own body to style a valet piece. After his children were of age, he and his daughter worked together and are credited with creating the pole light in the last quarter of the twentieth century.

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 number 25 was created in many types of wood and had a paper rope employed as the back and seat. Also, an intriguing aspect of the architectures involves the side of the seat, which involves an endless curved piece that emerges as the back legs. Many opinions state that chair number 25 closely resembles wicker furnishings and many times is grouped with it. However, this chair is superior to cheap wicker.

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 Wegner is best known for rather than his other designs (design mobler), especially wegner ch 25 (or Chair 25) which was created in 1950. He was most talented at constructing chairs, which he considered as much a work of art, as a place to sit. One of his beliefs was that chairs should appear excellent from every perspective, but there should be no "back" to the chair, just a continuous flow around the chair. He designed four chairs with woven style seats for Carl Hansen and Son; however ch 25 was the only one with rope weaving in the seat and the back.

Published December 10th, 2007

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