CARL HANSEN & SON

WHEN…

Danish Modern design took the world by storm in the 1950s, it was in no small part due to Carl Hansen & Son, founded in 1908 as a small cabinet shop in Odense, Denmark, on the island of Funen. The company managed to stay in business through two world wars, proving the success of its hybrid approach – a seamless melding of meticulous handcraftsmanship with rational series production.

AT THE…

outset, under its original founder, Carl Hansen’s skilled artisans produced pieces in the more ornate styles popular in the early 20^th century. But in the years after World War II, the company found itself in the vanguard of modernist design, thanks largely to a fortuitous meeting between a young architect named Hans J. Wegner and Holger Hansen, son of the company’s original founder.

The meeting led to an incredibly fruitful collaboration. In three heady weeks in 1949, Wegner designed four iconic chairs for Carl Hansen & Son; the CH22 Lounge Chair, CH23 Dining Chair, CH24 Wishbone Chair, and CH25 Lounge Chair. Made of steam-bent oak or walnut with woven cord seats, all four chairs are considered masterpieces of sculptural expression and are still in production today. Sustainable and durable, with ergonomic forms ideally suited to comfortable everyday use, each represents a timeless investment.

WHEN…

Holger Hansen died suddenly in 1962; with two sons too young to take the reins, the company’s prospects looked bleak. Fortuitously, his widow, Ella, who had been trained as a milliner, courageously and boldly for a woman of the era, took on the management of the company, and ran it successfully for two decades. She excelled as a saleswoman, cultivated the relationship with Wegner, who designed the bulk of their output, and quite literally saved the firm.

TODAY…

Knud Erik Hansen, their son, is the CEO of the 114-year-old firm, which still manufactures on the island of Funen and has a flagship store on Bredgade, Copenhagen’s elegant shopping street. Its output includes many of Hans J. Wegner’s original distinctive chairs, tables and credenzas, as well as impeccably crafted pieces by other such luminaries of the Danish Modern movement as Kaare Klint, Ole Wanscher and Arne Jacobsen.

Since Knud Erik Hansen became CEO in 2002, the company has forged new liaisons with contemporary designers and significantly expanded its international presence. At Carl Hansen & Son, the years of international triumph for Danish furniture design, synonymous with good taste and high quality, never came to an end. We’re honored to bring the timeless brilliance of their pieces into your hearts and homes through DSHOP.