Hans J. Wegner
The works of Danish born architect and furniture designer, Hans Jørgen Wegner, exhibit a love of natural materials and a studied understanding of the necessity of furniture as a marriage of function and beauty.
In his youth, Wegner developed an affinity for the material properties of wood, working as an apprentice to respected cabinetmaker H.F. Stahlberg. This experience instilled in Wegner an understanding of the tectonics and craft of traditional Danish carpentry. This understanding of workmanship was supplement with a formal design education when Wegner entered the Copenhagen School of Arts & Crafts in his early twenties. After receiving his architectural degree in 1938 he began working with renown Danish designers Arne Jacobsen and Erick Møller before establishing his own practice in 1943.
Throughout his career Hans Wegner was responsible for over 500 unique chair designs, making him the most prolific Danish designer to date. Perhaps his most well known design, the Round Chair, gained international notoriety in 1949 when Interiors magazine declared it “the world’s most beautiful chair”. The beauty of Wegner’s genius is seen in his designs as the manifestation of a remarkable combination of designer and craftsmen.