Børge Mogensen shelving systems

Børge Mogensen was born in 1914 in Aalborg in northern Jutland. Early on, Mogensen trained as a cabinetmaker and received his diploma in 1934. After his apprenticeship, he attended the Furniture Design School of the Arts and Crafts College and the Furniture School of the Academy of Fine Arts, which led to the co-founder of the school, Kaare Klint, hiring Mogensen in 1938.

Mogensen later became a teacher at the same furniture school that he studied at and during his career he designed furniture for several Danish and Swedish companies. Among them were Karl Andersson and Sons. Together with Arne Jacobsen and Hans J. Wegner, Mogensen took Danish furniture design to an international level, quickly gaining respect around the world.

In addition to creating home storage solutions, Mogensen was a prolific furniture designer, exhibiting in the city every year at Copenhagen Exhibitions Guild Exhibitions. In the 1940s, he was also head of furniture design for FDB Møbler. His acclaimed furniture designs are strong demonstrations of his education as a traditional craftsman. Throughout his career, Mogensen managed to charm his critics with his classic patterns. But from the beginning, he also introduced new ideas into his work with traditional forms.

In 1945, he designed a sofa with a leather strap that made it possible to drop the armrests down. For another chair from 1949, which critics said was a model for future chairs, he used a narrow, slightly sloping backrest that was cut out along the spine in an organic dewdrop shape. In 1953 he also designed the family room "This is Where We Live". The room was designed around a new concept of a living room containing a workbench and sewing table, encouraging family members to do multiple activities simultaneously.

Mogensen's furniture embodies the concepts of simplicity and functionality. It was important for Børge Mogensen to create a natural connection between the furniture and its users. He found inspiration and ideas in simple things in his environment, such as toothpicks and napkins, and his final products are always characterised by simple but strong lines. In 1958, Børge Mogensen designed the Shaker Table, which was to become a model for many subsequent designers. In addition to the world-famous table, Mogensen designed the BM1 and BM2 chairs and in 1972 he was awarded the title of Honorary Royal Designer for Industry in London. We offer, among other iconic furniture, the Spanish Chair and the J39 Chair.