Carl Hansen & Son celebrated the 108th birthday of designer Hans J Wegner (1914-2007) by launching a special limited edition of the iconic Wishbone Chair CH24.
This limited edition is an elegant combination of FSC-certified teak wood and olive tanned leather. It features a small brass plate engraved with the signature and date of birth of Hans J Wegner.
The Wishbone Chair, one of almost 500 chairs designed by Hans J Wegner, has been in continuous production since 1950.
A timeless icon with a form that is uniquely its own, the CH24 holds a special place in the world of modern design.
When designing the CH24, Wegner chose to combine the back and armrest into a single piece, his inspiration coming from Chinese chairs designed during the Ming dynasty. To give stability to the steam-bent top and ensure comfortable support, he developed the characteristic Y-shaped back that the Wishbone Chair is named after.
Part of that spectacular generation known as the Golden Age of modern Danish design, Wegner was considered the most creative, innovative, and prolific designer – often referred to as the ‘master of the chair’.
“Many foreigners have asked me how we created the Danish style,” said Wegner. “I’ve answered that it was a continuous process of purification and simplification – to cut down to the simplest possible design of four legs, a seat, and a combined back and armrest.”
Wegner had a deep respect for wood and its characteristics along with a vast curiosity about natural materials which formed his aesthetic, and enabled him to bring an organic, natural softness to formalistic minimalism.
He received many design awards, including the Lunning Prize in 1951, the Grand Prix of the Milan Triennale in 1951, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ Eckersberg Medal in 1956, Sweden’s Prince Eugen Medal in 1961, the Danish Furniture Prize in 1980, the C. F. Hansen Medal in 1982, and the 8th International Design Award in 1997. He was made an Honorary Royal Designer for industry by the Royal Society of Arts in London in 1959, became an honorary member of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1995, and was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the Royal College of Art in 1997.
Almost all of the world’s major design museums, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen to Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, exhibit his work.
Hans J. Wegner died in Denmark in January 2007, aged 92.
Carl Hansen explained that it had chosen olive tanned leather in “warm, golden shades” because the leather, like the teak it has used in the frame of the chair, will “patinate beautifully over time”. As a result, each individual chair in this limited-edition collection would have “its own distinctive expression”.
Olive tanning reduces carbon emissions and has an overall lower environmental impact. It facilitates a circular economy, safeguarding value in the form of energy, revitalisation, labour and materials. The patented wet-green® OBE tanning agent is a by-product of fallen olive tree leaves sourced in the Mediterranean. Rather than burning or discarding the leaves, they are collected and brewed like a tea. This extract is the same concentrate found in extra virgin olive oil. The result is a 100% bio-based, extraordinarily soft leather that engages your senses.
