HANS J.WEGNER

Hans J. Wegner is considered one of the greatest furniture designers of all time. His numerous designs are often described as'iconic', 'timeless' and 'free from passing trends'. He is famous for integrating perfectly executed joints with exquisite shapes and combining them with a constant curiosity for materials and deep respect for wood and its natural characteristics. His designs furnish minimalism with organic and natural softness.

Wegner was born in 1914, the son of a shoemaker. At the age of 17, he completed his apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker in the workshop of H. F. Stahlbergand soon moved to Copenhagen to attend the School of Arts and Crafts, , embarking on a career as an architect in 1938. In 1940, Wegner joined Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller to design furniture for the new City Hall in Aarhus, Denmark. The same year, he began working with master cabinetmaker Johannes Hansen. In 1944, he designed the first in a series inspired by Chinese chairs from the Ming dynasty. One of these chairs, the 'Wishbone Chair,' designed in 1949 and produced by Carl Hansen & Søn since 1950, went on to become Wegner's most successful design of all time. Wegner designed more than 500 chairs (!) and is known as 'the Master of the Chair'.

Almost all of the world's major design museums, from The Museum of Modern Art in New York to Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, feature his furniture in their collections. Hans J. Wegner died in Denmark in 2007 at the age of 92.