Hans J. Wegner

Design­ing approx­i­mately 500 prod­ucts in his life­time, many of them chairs, Hans J. Wegner was a prolific talent whose designs have become synony­mous with modern Danish design. He dreamed up his famous CH24 chair, or Wish­bone chair, for Carl Hansen & Søn in 1949, and it instantly became a best­seller. Still today, the chair is ubiq­ui­tous in resi­dences, restau­rants, offices, and other spaces around the world.

At age 14, Wegner appren­ticed with Danish master cabi­net­maker H. F. Stahlberg, a train­ing that would lead to the expert joinery and tech­nique that emerged in his own furni­ture. He carried a deep respect for wood and the mate­r­ial allowed him to intro­duce a natural and organic sensi­bil­ity to the mini­mal­ist and func­tional forms he designed. In the 1940’s, he worked for Erik Møller and Arne Jacob­sen design­ing furni­ture for the Aarhus City Hall in Denmark before estab­lish­ing his own furniture studio.

Wegner collab­o­rated with Carl Hansen & Søn on numer­ous iconic pieces and the Danish manu­fac­turer contin­ues to produce many of his artful creations, such as the CH07 Shell chair and CH20 Elbow chair.