About Hans Jørgen Wegner

Hans Jørgen Wegner, born in Denmark in 1914, was an inventive designer of furniture. Wegner designed chairs with a minimalist design. In architecture, minimalism means that the aim of the architect or designer is to use as few materials as possible for components, only the necessary ones are used.

Wegner is known in the Danish Design stream. This movement is a design direction without emotion, with abstract forms. In particular, forms such as sphere, cylinder, cube and cone shapes are used for the object to be designed.

Danish design by Wegner

Through the works of Wegner, "Danish design" became a concept in the fifties of the twentieth century. Wegner did a course for making furniture at the Technological Institute in Copenhagen. After completing the course, Wegner wanted to expand his knowledge even more. He went to the school for Art, Craft and Design and followed a two-year course there. Later he became a teacher at the same school.

Right after the training he started working on the Jutland peninsula at architects Arne Jacobsen and Erik Moller, his position as assistant designer. In 1943 he stopped working at the architectural firm of Arne and Erik and Wegner started his own architectural firm, also on the Jutland peninsula. Three years later, in 1946, Wegner moved to Copenhagen because he saw possibilities with it. And indeed in Copenhagen he made many famous designs.

Wegner design chairs

The success of Wegner started in Copenhagen. He stood out because of his Windlass chair, also known as the Peacock Chair, and the 19-inch classic Y-chair, also called Wishbone Chair (CH24). In 1951 Hans Wegner receives a prize, this is the Lunning Award. The Lunning Award is the Nobel Prize of Scandinavian Design. It was awarded to two young designers every year.

Valet and Shell chairs

Wegner designed two more chairs that gained worldwide recognition. In 1953 he designed the Valet, this was a chair, but the seat could be folded up and in this way on one side a pair of trousers and on the other hand a jacket could be hung. Under the seat was a small storage tray in which, for example, jewelry could be stored. A multifunctional chair.

In 1963 Wegner designed the Shell Chair (CH07), which was a chair with a curved seat.

Hans Jørgen Wegner died in 2007.