A taste for the classics

You say Carl Hansen and think Hans Wegner. It is more or less impossible to relate to the ancient Danish furniture manufacturer Carl Hansen & Søn without being seized by the desire to sit down in a perfectly dimensioned chair designed by the unrivalled seat master Hans J. Wegner. More than 500 Wegner chairs are believed to have been designed, and one imagines that Carl Hansen made at least 600 of them.

In 1908, cabinetmaker Carl Hansen set up a workshop in Odense on the island of Funen, initially producing furniture such as dining sets and bedroom furniture for wealthy private customers. After a few years, the craft took the form of a small factory, and as production increased, series of the most popular furniture began to emerge. That combination of meticulous craftsmanship and rational production is still one of Carl Hansen & Søn's most distinctive characteristics.

"It represented a pioneering minimalism, fluid and technically phenomenal."

Hans Jørgen Wegner was 34 years old and rather untested when he started working with Carl Hansen in 1949. Among the first things he did - just a few weeks into the collaboration – was to design the CH24, better known as the Y chair. It was as if it spoke a language no one had yet learnt. It represented a pioneering minimalism, fluid and technically phenomenal. 70 years later, it still appears with impressive regularity in interior design reports around the world. After his sudden breakthrough, Wegner didn't look back, but pushed forward into the 1950s with clear ideas on how to respond to a post-war era that was looking for new expressions.

Hans J. Wegner was basically a trained cabinetmaker with a sure sense of woodwork and renowned for his lifelong pursuit of, well, perfection. But Wegner made more than magically comfortable and somewhat minimalist seating, where the crucial, finely chiselled dimension is barely discernible but palpable. Wegner designed objects that furnished entire homes with the same touch, from bedside tables to display cabinets. And Carl Hansen & Søn produced more than furniture by Hans J. Wegner.

"An original model is not only recreated, but multiplied in a range of new materials and colours – a success."

In the 1950s, the Danish furniture marvel made an international breakthrough and became synonymous with the still popular term 'Scandinavian modern'. Kaare Klint was the 'original modernist', leading the way and teaching many of the new wave. Companies such as Carl Hansen & Søn, Fritz Hansen, E. Kold Christensen, Bovirke, Ry Møbler, PP Møbler, Johannes Andersen, Fredericia Stolefabrik collaborated with designers such as Wegner, Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjaerholm, Finn Juhl, Børge Mogensen, Grete Jalk, Arne Vodder, Bodil Kjaer, Nanna Ditzel, Verner Panton, Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen... The flow of talent and manufacturers who harnessed it seemed inexhaustible. But over time, production dried up, other demands were made, companies disappeared, and those interested in iconic Danish design had to rely on the antique market and luck.

It is in this context that Carl Hansen & Son's achievements should be seen. The company has not only stayed afloat when others dived too deeply into recession, but has sailed into ever wider waters. It is still owned by the Hansen family and still produces its furniture in its own workshop outside Odense, emphasising the quality of its craftsmanship. It manages its own history with wisdom, and has also acquired other smaller carpentry shops and companies that have come with drawings and the right to produce. This means that today, to say the least, they have a well-filled archive to draw on. Carl Hansen & Søn can produce design classics by some ten Danish designers. And it does so in creative ways. An original model is not just recreated, but multiplied in a range of new materials and colours – a success.

Last year, Carl Hansen & Søn bought Rud Rasmussen's beautiful historic carpentry shop on Bredgade in the centre of Copenhagen. Starting this autumn, it will be used to restore old furniture. In addition to safeguarding what has been loved for 70 years for its quality and relentlessly modern lines, Carl Hansen & Søn collaborates with a dozen of today's leading designers, such as Tadao Ando, EOOS and Brad Ascalon.

Perhaps it too will become a cultural treasure that refuses to gather dust in the archives.

Written by Rikard Lind