Nyhavn Desk

Choose from an assortment of styles, material and more with respect to the nyhavn desk you’re looking for at 1stDibs. A nyhavn desk — often made from metal, wood and steel — can elevate any home. There are 2 variations of the antique or vintage nyhavn desk you’re looking for, while we also have 8 modern editions of this piece to choose from as well. There are many kinds of the nyhavn desk you’re looking for, from those produced as long ago as the 20th Century to those made as recently as the 21st Century. A nyhavn desk made by Modern designers — as well as those associated with Scandinavian Modern — is very popular.

Prices for a nyhavn desk can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, they begin at $2,768 and can go as high as $36,000, while the average can fetch as much as $8,456.

Along with Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobsen and Børge Mogensen, Finn Juhl was one of the great masters of mid-20th-century Danish design. Juhl was the first among that group to have his work promoted overseas, bringing the character of the nation’s furnishings — and the inherent principles of grace, craftsmanship and utility on which they were based — to an international audience. 

A stylistic maverick, Juhl embraced expressive, free-flowing shapes in chair, credenzas and sofa designs much earlier than his colleagues, yet even his quietest pieces incorporate supple, curving forms that are at once elegant and ergonomic.

As a young man, Juhl hoped to become an art historian, but his father steered him into a more practical course of study in architecture. He began designing furniture in the late 1930s, a discipline in which, despite his education, Juhl was self-taught, and quite proud of the fact. 

Juhl’s earliest works, designed in the late 1930s, are perhaps his most idiosyncratic. The influence of modern art is clear in his 1939 Pelican chair: an almost Surrealist take on the classic wing chair. Critics reviled the piece, however; one said it looked like a "tired walrus." Juhl had tempered his creativity by 1945, when the workshop of Danish cabinetmaker Niels Vodder began to issue his designs. Yet Juhl’s now-classic NV 45 armchair still demonstrates panache, with a seat that floats above the chair’s teak frame.

Juhl first exhibited his work in the United States in 1950, championed by Edgar Kaufmann Jr., an influential design critic and scion of America’s most prominent family of modern architecture and design patrons. (Kaufmann’s father commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright’s design of the house “Fallingwater.”) 

Juhl quickly won a following for such signature designs as the supremely comfortable Chieftan lounge chair, the Judas table — a piece ornamented with stylish inlaid silver plaquettes — and the biomorphic Baker sofa. After an article authored by Kaufmann on Juhl and his work appeared in the U.S.-based magazine Interiors in 1948, he began receiving American commissions. 

Kaufmann commissioned Juhl to create the exhibition design for, and contribute pieces to, the 1951 edition of the Good Design shows he organized for MoMA and Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. Baker Furniture asked Juhl to design for the firm, and he produced a collection of chairs, tables and cabinets, and, later, the 1957 sofa. 

Scandinavian modernist seating, such as the chairs and sofas Juhl created for Baker, became immensely popular in postwar America, as the seeds of the Scandinavian style that Juhl sowed took root and spread in the United States. Juhl and his work featured prominently in the landmark show “Design from Scandinavia,” which opened in 1954 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and traveled to 24 museums in the U.S. and Canada; over three years, it was seen by more than a million people.

Juhl’s furniture — as well as his ceramics, tableware and accessories — has an air of relaxed sophistication and elegance that is unique in the realm of mid-century design.

Find vintage Finn Juhl armchairs, coffee tables, desks and other furniture for sale on 1stDibs.

Vintage desks and writing tables span centuries of design. The writing table came first, a simple surface built for correspondence, while the drawered desk followed as record-keeping at home and in the office grew more demanding.

Styles to Know

Any desk at least 20 years old falls under this broader vintage category. If you want a tapered-leg, mid-century look specifically, browse mid-century modern desks; Louis XVI and Art Deco secretary desks bridge the writing-table and desk forms. A vintage table lamp adds task lighting to either.

How to Choose the Right Vintage Piece

Writing tables often carry little to no storage of their own, so a separate file cabinet or desk organizer may be worth planning for, alongside a close look at the surface dimensions against the space available. Each piece comes from a vetted 1stDibs seller, with era, designer and condition detailed, and every purchase is covered by the 1stDibs Promise.