THE chair by Hans Wegner
Denmark, 1949
This is perhaps the best known of Wegner's extensive range of chair designs. It epitomizes the
characteristic qualities of his work - classicism, sophistication, a finely drawn structure and impeccably finished
traditional materials.
The design is simple, beautifully proportioned and modulated - it appears effortless, but is the
result of a long and painstaking development through models and prototypes. The wide seat is a woven cane membrane:
the chair is also available with an upholstered seat.
While all the parts seem to flow into each other making a unified form, the transition from one
part to the next is always expressed. In the case of the arm to leg connection, for example, this is achieved by a
slight recess at the joint which also prevents any unsightly shifting caused by the possible shrinkage of the wood.
There is an elegant and ingenious finger joint connecting the arms to the backrest.
Wegner is not primarily concerned with the architectural aspects of chair design, nor with
innovation for its own sake. His ideas flow more from the chair as it emerged from the nineteenth century. The
design seems to have an affinity with the Arts and Crafts movement furniture and with the Riemerschmid chair.
His designs have been influential in Scandinavia particularly where there has been an apparently
endless succession of refinements to a simple chair structure, mostly using fine woods, leather, canvas and
cane.
The version above shows Wegner's THE chair with a leather seat.
Appoggio chair
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