Danish designers produced many beautiful furniture during the 20th century and furniture from this period has become particularly popular in the past two decades. Over the past 100 years, Danish architects have designed over 10,000 different pieces of furniture. Many of which are known worldwide today. The Egg and Swan chair by Arne Jacobsen, the Corona chair by Poul M. Volther and the Ox chair by Hans J. Wegner mention just a few. Many of the furniture from 1930 to 1950 are still produced today and can be found in many homes around the world. But what is the background of this furniture and why have they become so popular?
When you think of Danish furniture design, you often think of functionalism and minimalism. The furniture in the period from 1930 to 1950 are often handmade or industrial products. An example are the classic handcrafted chairs by Kaare Klint and the wildly colored plastic chairs by Verner Panton. Even if we talk about industrial production furniture, this doesn't have to be associated with today's mass production. Industrial production simply means that it was not possible to make furniture such as the Ant chair and the Swan chair by hand as their shape and shape were designed for production on machines. Despite the fact that many of today's retro furniture was originally made industrially, it has always been very expensive. This was and is due to the high quality, expensive leather and embroidery associated with the upholstery of the furniture.
When we talk about retro design from Denmark around the 1950s, one should not only think about chairs, as there are many other retro objects made in the same period. Many Danish architects also made other things such as lamps (Poul Henningsen, Verner Panton and others), watches and cutlery. When Arne Jacobsen designed, for example, the Radisson SAS Royal Hotel, he not only designed the building, but also everything from cutlery to furniture (e.g. Swan, Egg and Drop chairs). The toys made by Kay Bojesen are another example of retro objects from that time.
The popularity of furniture from the mid-20th century is probably due to the often fluid lines and sometimes unusual shapes, not to mention the high quality. Some furniture from that period has also been updated with a wide range of colors and fabrics.
[
