6/2000

Collection

Furniture

Brief description

Three legged chair made from solid beech and beech wood ply veneered in teak, designed by Hans Wegner in 1949 and manufactured by Fritz Hansen in Denmark in c.1960. It was acquired from the original owner and there are two Documenting Homes collections associated with this object, 191/2010 and 314/2010.

Object name

chair

Object number

6/2000

Production person

Hans J. Wegner (designer)

Production organisation

Fritz Hansen Ltd (manufacturer)
Bowmans (retailer)

Production date

1949 (designed)
c.1960 (manufactured)

Production place

Denmark (manufactured)

Period

Twentieth century (1900-1999)

Material

beech
plywood
teak veneer

Technique

bent
turned
polished
veneered

Physical description

The chair has a beech frame which consists of three vertical legs braced horizontally to form a triangle. A curved triangular teak-faced beechwood ply seat is fixed to the horizonal stretchers with one point at the front and the opposite flat side at the back. The front leg comes through a hole in the seat and is finished to form a button on top. The two legs at the back extend upwards and are joined by a curved horizontal section to form a back rest. The legs taper towards the floor. On the underside of the seat are two stamps. One is Fritz Hansen’s maker’s mark which features FH enclosed within a circle which is in turn enclosed within a square and underneath has ‘MADE IN DENMARK’. The other is a black adhesive label with dull gold print with ‘FURNITUREMAKERS / DANISH / CONTROL’.

Dimensions

Height: 72cm
Width: 54cm
Depth: 49cm

Website keywords

seating
dining furniture

Label

Caption for Exploring 20th Century London website:
This chair was originally owned by a married couple, a teacher, who was German and a Scottish business man in the timber trade, who had two teenage children. Their home was part of a an estate built by Span Developments Ltd in about 1960 in Twickenham and to which they moved in the early 1960s. Span were known for their 'good' modern design, and well laid out communal gardens. The chair was part of a set, with a dining table, which the couple had in the dining area of their open-plan living room. Scandinavian design was sought after in Britain after the Second World War, but was not always easy to get hold of. They bought much of their furniture from a shop called Trend on Richmond Hill which specialised in Scandinavian furniture.