Hans J. Wegner: Just One Good Chair

Hans J. Wegner: Just One Good Chair is a richly illustrated overview of the career and works of Danish designer Hans J. Wegner. During his career, Wegner designed up to 500 of the most elegant chair models, and the work is – rightly so – dedicated specifically to his skillfully designed and manufactured chairs. The work is published by Hatje Cantz and written by Christian Holmstedt Olesen of the Danish Design Museum.

The name Hans J. Wegner (1914–2007) is inseparable from his unrivalled chairs, which helped Danish design to achieve its international breakthrough. Every design fan has his or her favorite from among Wegner’s approximately five hundred creations. Today, there is a hardly a glossy interior design magazine that does not include an illustration of the elegant China Chair (1943) or the Y Chair (1950), and even John F. Kennedy sat on his Round Chair, which is now simply called The Chair (1949). Trained as a furniture maker, Wegner usually made his prototypes himself by hand, using traditional joinery techniques such as tongue-and-groove or finger joints. In the process he pushed the limitations of wood, giving his designs an unmatched elegance. His sense of humor did not fall by the wayside, either, as evidenced by his splendid Peacock Chair (1947) or the masculine Ox Chair (1960), that latter of which is available with or without horns.