Design story
Hans J Wegner teak cabinet for Ry Møbler. Although Hans J Wegner’s reputation as an incomparable chair designer remains, he designed several other types of furniture from around 1950, including cabinets. Remarkable was his long-standing collaboration with several manufacturers in tables, shelving and cabinets. Others again in upholstered furniture.
Through the furniture industry’s work with Wegner’s furniture types and the consistently high level of quality, his furniture reached a wider circle due to affordability, which harmonized with Wegner’s social attitude and modest, unassuming nature.
Wegner was born in Southern Denmark, son of a cobbler and on track to follow in his fathers footstep. However, at the age of 14 Wegner entered into an apprenticeship with a local cabinet maker. It quickly became evident that he had an enormous talent designing chairs and working with wood. After the apprenticeship Wegner moved to Copenhagen and attended the School of Arts and Crafts from 1936 to 1938 before setting out as a furniture designer.
When Wegner was 24 years old he was employed by Flemming Lassen, Erik Møller and Arne Jackobsen, three masters of the design world. Together they designed nearly all the furniture for Aarhus (the second largest city in Denmark) city hall. During the project, he met Inga Helbo, a secretary in Jacobsen’s office. Wegner and Helbo later married.
Throughout his career, Wegner had a fondness for integrating wood into his chairs, and he had a special talent for using the characteristics of the material to create surprising, sculptural lines. This is also evident in Hans J. Wegner teak cabinet.
Wegner’s furniture has been shown at most significant exhibitions of Danish handicrafts and functional art in Denmark and internationally. His best furniture is purchased by museums around the world. The Danish Museum of Art and Design acquired its first Wegner chair in 1942.
In 1961 Hans J Wegners Round Chair was used during the first nationally televised presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.
