Description

kennedy chair and  round chair
solidwood frame
pu or leather upholstery for seat
designed by Hans J Wegner

                                                                                                                                       Hans Jørgen Wegner, (April 2, ***4 - January *6, ***7), was one of the most innovative and prolific of all Danish furniture designers that made mid-century Danish design internationally popular. His work belongs to a modernist school that preserves function. He is probably best known for his many chairs of genuine craftmanship.                                                                              Early years
Born to a cobbler in Tønder, in southern Denmark, he got an early start working as a child apprentice to a carpenter. After serving in the military he went to technical college and then to the School of Arts and crafts and the Architectural Academy in Copenhagen. Even his earliest objects, like an armchair with sloping armrests like relaxed wrists (a ***7 design for an exhibit at the Museum of Decorative Arts), exhibited Wegner's approach of "stripping the old chairs of their outer style and letting them appear in their pure construction."

Mid years
Wegner worked for some time for Arne Jacobsen, another famous Danish designer. Wegner was in charge of the furniture in the Aarhus Municipal Hall, which Jacobsen designed. After some years under Jacobsen, Wegner started his own company. Along with fellow architect, he drew furniture for FDB (a Danish chain of grocery stores), spearheaded by Erik Kold - who founded an organization of Danish furniture makers that launched Danish design abroad.


Later years
In his later years Wegner became more attached to PP Møbler (which produces most of his designs today) for whom many of his later designs were made. He remained active throughout his life, continually showing new original ideas and concepts. The Hoop Chair, originally designed in ***5 with a steel tube base and finally put into production made entirely in wood in ***5 (for PP Møbler) is completely without precedent. Wegner has designed furniture for PP Møbler, Johannes Hansen, Carl Hansen & Son, Fritz Hansen, Getama, Fredericia Stolefabrik and others. He designed over **0 chairs and retired from public life only in the last decade of his life.