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Hans Wegner's background and craftsman philosophy
Wegner was born in Denmark in 1914, the son of a shoemaker . He apprenticed under a furniture maker in his teens, earned his "Meister" qualification, and only then enrolled at the School of Arts and Crafts (now the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts) .
In Denmark at the time, hands-on experience in the field was expected before you ever learned technique at school, and Wegner himself always held the stance that "I'm not an artist, I'm a furniture maker" . It was also typical of many Danish designers of his era that they could not just design furniture, but build it entirely from scratch themselves .
His devotion to the chair, and his view of "plastic"
Wegner was preoccupied with how a chair functions — with usability itself . He favored wood as a material .
Through the 1940s and 50s, the trend of using plastic in furniture (mid-century modern) accelerated, particularly in America . While Wegner acknowledged the freedom of form that plastic allowed, he took a somewhat critical view, saying something like, "the very fact that it gives you total freedom is what makes it feel unreasonable to me" . It's clear he placed real value on creating functional beauty within the constraints of a material like wood .
Connections between designers
The exhibition also touched on how designers of that era were connected to one another horizontally .
- Børge Mogensen: a close friend of Wegner's, close enough that he asked Wegner to name his own son . The "Peter's Chair," still well known today, was something Wegner made for him .
- Kaare Klint: Mogensen's mentor, and the person who began incorporating the concept of "ergonomics" into furniture design . Wegner was also influenced by that thinking through his friend Mogensen .
- Arne Jacobsen: known for pieces like the "Series 7 chair," Jacobsen worked alongside Wegner for a time on furniture design for Aarhus City Hall .
Impressions of the exhibition
The pieces on display were provided by chair researcher Noritsugu Oda . The venue also had chairs you could actually sit in, so it wasn't just something to look at — you could genuinely experience their practicality . Wegner's chairs were once said to be beyond the reach of knockoffs (reproductions) in terms of quality and price, but these days pieces like "The Chair" now change hands for over a million yen, making them extraordinarily expensive .
It was a great opportunity to take a fresh look at the "chair" — a product that's part of everyday life .
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