The present lot is a pair of armchairs, model no. “FJ 45”, produced in Bangkok Teak. Designed by the Danish architect Finn Juhl and executed by the master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder for the Cabinetmakers’ Guild, held at the Kunstindustrimuseet, Copenhagen where the design was first exhibited in 1945. From 1944 and continuing into the 1950s, Finn Juhl designed some of his finest cabinet made furniture for the Cabinetmakers’ Guild, and the “FJ 45” armchair must be considered one of his most accomplished and revered designs. During this period Juhl created the “FJ 44” dining chair that was then described by one critic as having “a sculptural form which apparently strains the wood to its upmost limits.” Then followed the “FJ 45” armchair that was celebrated for its frame “which is beautifully modelled or organic like a bone”, as stated by the Danish architect Erik Herløw in the periodical Arkitekten. The “FJ 45” demonstrates through the exquisite use of Bangkok Teak, importantly Juhl’s primary choice of timber, handcrafted, accentuated organic stiles and arms with elegantly carved wings.

Each year during this period Juhl presented designs at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild that were executed by Vodder. The synergy and symbiosis of these two artistic characters created iconic masterpieces of 20th century design. Always an original contributor to the Cabinetmaker’s Guild, Juhl would receive many favourable responses from the critics: “Finn Juhl’s designs continue the course of development which has characterised his contributions to the past four or five exhibitions. Finn Juhl has undoubtedly been our most prominent furniture designer these past few years, and he is the one who has made the sincerest effort to comply with the requirements which a designer participating in the cabinetmakers’ exhibition is naturally expected to fill”(Grete Jalk, ed., Dansk Møbelkunst gennem 40 aar, Volume 3: 1947-1956, Copenhagen, 1987, p. 122). When discussing the cabinetmaker Niels Vodder, the Danish architectural journalist Henrik Sten Møller refers to him as an “original craftsman with a distinct sense of humour.” He then goes further to explain why Vodder would have ever had agreed to collaborate with Juhl: “The reason why Niels Vodder became Finn Juhl’s cabinetmaker was that nobody else wanted to produce his furniture. They thought the furniture too strange and furthermore often technically complicated” (Patricia Yamada, ed., Finn Juhl Memorial Exhibition, exh. cat., Osaka, 1990, p. 18).