Hans Wegner

Among Danish furniture designers, Hans J. Wegner is considered one of the most creative, innovative and prolific. Often referred to as the master of the chair, Wegner created more than 500 in his lifetime – many of them considered masterpieces. His iconic Wishbone Chair is probably the most well-known and has been in continuous production since 1950.

Wegner was part of the spectacular generation that created what is today referred to as “the Golden Age” of modern Danish design. “Many foreigners have asked me how we created the Danish style,” Wegner once said. “And I’ve answered that it was a continuous process of purification and of simplification – to cut down to the simplest possible design of four legs, a seat, and a combined back-and-armrest.”

The son of a cobbler, Wegner was born in 1914 in Tønder, a town in southern Denmark. He began his apprenticeship with Danish master cabinetmaker H. F. Stahlberg when he was just 14 years old. Later on, he moved to Copenhagen and attended the School of Arts and Crafts from 1936 to 1938 before setting out as a furniture designer.

In 1938, Wegner was approached by architects and designers Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller, and started designing furniture for the new Aarhus City Hall. During the same period, Wegner began collaborating with master cabinetmaker Johannes Hansen, who was a driving force in bringing new furniture design to the Danish public at the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibitions.

The core of Wegner’s legacy is his focus on showing the inner soul of furniture pieces through a simple and functional exterior. Wegner’s background as a cabinetmaker gave him a deep understanding of how to integrate exacting joinery techniques with exquisite form. His aesthetic was also based on a deep respect for wood and its characteristics, and a vast curiosity about other natural materials that enabled him to bring an organic, natural softness to formalistic minimalism.