Hans J. Wegner - Design London Wednesday, June 30, 2021 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    'Kontormøbler', Plan Møbler, sales catalogue, early 1940s, p. 41

  • Catalogue Essay

    Phillips wishes to thank Marianne Wegner from the Hans J. Wegner Design Studio for her assistance cataloguing the present lot.

    The present swivel chair designed by Hans J. Wegner in 1941 dates from the designer’s early career in Aarhus, where he established his first architecture studio in 1943. Between 1936 and 1938, Wegner studied at the Cabinetmaker Day School at the School of Arts and Crafts, Copenhagen. In 1938 he was offered a position in the architecture office of Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller, who had recently won the commission to design the new Aarhus City Hall. Jacobsen and Møller entrusted the young Wegner to design the building’s furniture. Wegner’s furniture designs for the city hall’s main building were handcrafted, while his designs for the two office wings were manufactured by the Aarhus based firm Plan Møbler. Impressed by his work, Plan Møbler hired Wegner to design three series of modular office furniture. The present chair, featured only in Plan Møbler’s first catalogue and thought to have been produced in very limited numbers, was developed from Wegner’s designs for Aarhus City Hall, but now constructed entirely in wood. Wegner’s first project for the city hall had been to create a wooden model of the building. For his materials, Wegner had contacted the cabinetmaker and expert wood carver, Mikael Laursen, who he had first met in Tønder, where as a teenager Wegner carved wood sculpture. From 1940 to 1949, Wegner collaborated with Laursen, who was then the head of production of Plan Møbler, and it is possible the present chair was executed by Laursen.

Property from a Private Collection, Denmark

112

Rare swivel chair, model no. B 301-0

circa 1941
Oak, steel.
83 x 45.4 x 48 cm (32 5/8 x 17 7/8 x 18 7/8 in.), as shown

Estimate
£3,000 - 5,000 

Sold for £3,780

Contact Specialist

Antonia King

Head of Sale, Design

Antonia.King@phillips.com

 

Design

London Auction 30 June 2021