Hans JÃÆ'¸rgensen Wegner , (April 2, 1914 - January 26, 2007), is a world-renowned Danish furniture designer. His high-quality, thoughtful work, along with the joint efforts of some of his manufacturers, contributed to the international popularity of Danish medieval design. His style is often described as Organic Functionality, a modernist school with an emphasis on functionality. This flow of thought arises mainly in Scandinavian countries with contributions by Poul Henningsen, Alvar Aalto, and Arne Jacobsen. In his lifetime he designed more than 500 different seats, more than 100 of which were put into mass production and many of them have become recognizable design icons.
Video Hans Wegner
Initial years
Born by mason Peter M. Wegner in TÃÆ'¸nder, in southern Denmark, he worked as an apprentice to master the vault maker H. F. Stahlberg. He soon discovers he has feelings for wood and develops affinity for matter. After completing his apprenticeship at the age of 17, he remained in the workshop for three years before joining the army. He went to engineering college after serving in the military, and then to the Danish School of Arts and Crafts and the Academy of Architecture in Copenhagen.
In Copenhagen he became acquainted with the Guild Carpenters Furniture Fair in the city, starting in 1927. The exhibition was a laboratory for experiments between Master Cabinet makers such as Johannes Hansen, L. Pontoppidan, Niels Vodder, Jacob KjÃÆ'Â|r, AJ Iversen, Moos and Rudolf Rasmussen and the best architects of the time, such as Kaare Klint, Vilhelm Lauritzen, Ole Wanscher, and Mogens Voltelen.
This annual exhibition gives Wegner a direct experience of what a combination of work and design can bring. Wegner decided to become a designer with the aim of producing and selling furniture. Therefore, in 1936, he began studying in what is now called The Danish Design School, with O. MÃÆ'¸lgaard Nielsen as a teacher.
Even the original objects, such as armchairs with sloping armrests like casual wrists (1937 design for exhibitions at the Museum of Decorative Art), showcased Wegner's approach of "disarming the old style armchairs and letting them appear in their pure construction."
Arne Jacobsen and Erik MÃÆ'¸ller have set up a joint studio to design and build Aarhus City Hall. In 1938 Wegner was employed in Aarhus, first under the architect Erik MÃÆ'¸ller and Flemming Lassen and then in 1940 under Jacobsen and MÃÆ'¸ller. Wegner's job is to design furniture for City Hall.
Maps Hans Wegner
Mid year
Wegner worked for some time for Arne Jacobsen, a successful Danish architect and designer. Wegner was responsible for the furniture in Aarhus City Hall, designed by Jacobsen. After several years under Jacobsen, Wegner started his own company. Together with fellow architect BÃÆ'¸rge Mogensen, he designed furniture for FDB (a network of Danish grocery stores), pioneered by Erik Kold - who founded a Danish furniture maker organization that launched Danish design abroad.
Next year
In his later years, Wegner became closer to the PP MÃÆ'¸bler (which produced many pieces originally designed for Johannes Hansen) and for whom he then designed several seats. He continued to be productive all his life. An example of his later work is the "Hoop Chair", originally designed in 1965 on a steel tube base and eventually put into production made entirely of wood in 1985 (for PP MÃÆ'¸bler). Wegner retired from public life just around the turn of the 21st century.
Awards
Wegner received several major design prizes, from the Lunning prize in 1951 and the Grand Prix of Milan Triennale in the same year, to the Prince Eugen medal in Sweden and the Danish Eckersberg medal. In 1959, he was appointed as an honorary royal designer for the industry by the Royal Society of Arts in London. Her furniture comes in many international collections including the Museum of Modern Art in N.Y. and Die Neue Sammlung in Munich.
Main Furniture Design
Wegner's design was produced by several manufacturers, including Getama, Stolen AP, Johannes Hansen, Andreas Tuck, Ry Mobler, Fredericia Stolefabrik, Carl Hansen & Children, Fritz Hansen, PP Mobler and Erik Jorgensen.
Many of Wegner's wooden chairs are characterized by traditional carpentry techniques including mortise and thorns, finger joints, and carved elements such as armrests and seat holder. Wegner also uses traditional construction for fabric pieces, and often mixed materials such as solid wood, plywood, metal, coating, rattan, and papercord.
Wegner said of his work "I always wanted to make things unacceptable from very high quality..." The main design shown here is known for taking on traditional elements and driving them to extreme tolerance and distillation.
- J16 Rocking Chair , 1944
- Chinese Chair (no.1) , 1944. Chinese Serial Chairs are inspired by portraits of Danish traders sitting in traditional Ming chairs. The first, produced by Fritz Hansen, is the closest to the source: the rear splat is carved into the arm rail, which ends with a curved decorative finial.
- Chinese Chair (no.4) , 1945. The 4th Chinese chair is a clean distillation of its original shape. It combines many typical Danish elements such as floating seat support (on fabric models). Also present are the curved and planned rails that appear in many of Wegner's next seats, including the Wishbone chair below.
- Peacock Chair , 1947. Peacock chairs are inspired by traditional Windsor chairs. Wegner exaggerated the curved back, creating a high, high-winded seat. The rear spindle is leveled in the approximate area of ​​a person's shoulder blade, a visual result that evokes the feathers of a bird's tail.
- "The Chair" , 1949. The best seats represent Wegner's design philosophy of "continuous purification... to cut into the simplest element of four legs, a seat, and a combination of rail and armrest "The Chair is a collaboration of Wegner and furniture maker Johannes Hansen (now made by PP Mobler as model PP501/PP503). This construction has 11 pieces of wood that joins 12 mortise and tenons and two large finger joints. Finger joints direct the wood grain as the rear rail wraps around the body to maximize material strength. The chair was offered with a strong upholstered chair, or a wicker whip chairs. It became famous in a 1961 television debate between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Both presidential candidates sat in seats during the debate.
- Folding Chairs , 1949. Lightweight with wicker chairs, drawing on historic folding chairs. Wegner makes hooks so that chairs can be hung on the wall to save space. Wishbone Chair, 1949. The Wishbone Chair is the first collaboration between Wegner and maker Carl Hansen, who has been producing it since 1950. In 1944 Wegner started a series of seats inspired by Danish portraits of merchants sitting in traditional Ming chair. Wishbone's chair is the last and most distinct of the series. Inspiration is clearly visible, but the seat is the original form. The rear legs are bent with steam into a shrinking curve to join a bent rear rail. The workshop is difficult but produces a strong and light chair.
- Flag of Halyard Chair , 1950. While Wegner often draws from historical forms he also creates forms without precedent. The Halyard Flag was inspired by a trip to the coast, where Wegner carved a shape in the sand. Sheep metal, sheep, and sheepskin chairs are unusual, but never before, a break from productive wood use in Wegners.
- Valet seat , 1953. This chair has elements for hanging or storing each piece of a men's suit. The backrest is carved for use as a coat hanger, pants can be hung on the rails on the edge of the chair and everything else can be stored in storage space under the seat. The Oxbow Chair , 1960. which came with or without horns, shows a less serious side of Wegner's design. "We have to be careful," he once said, "that things are not too serious, we have to play - but we have to play seriously." The Cow is Wegner's favorite chair and occupies space in his living room until he dies.
- Shell Chair , 1963. In 1938, Wegner entered the Organic Home Furnishings competition at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
Quotes
"A lot of strangers ask me how we make Danish style, and I have replied that it is... more a continuous purification process, and to me simplification, to cut into the simplest of four legs, seats and combinations of top rails and armrests. "
"The chair is not there, a good chair is a task that's never really done."
"The chair is not having the backside.It must be beautiful from all sides and corners."
See also
- modern Danish
References
External links
- NYT Obituary
- PP Mobler
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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