Fritz Hansen Canapes

Danish, 1847-1902

When the Copenhagen-based furniture maker Fritz Hansen opened for business more than 140 years ago, the company — which today styles itself The Republic of Fritz Hansen — adhered to the traditional, time-honored Danish values of craftsmanship in woodworking and joinery. Yet thanks to the postwar innovations of Arne Jacobsen and others, Fritz Hansen would become the country’s leader in Scandinavian modern design using new, forward-looking materials and methods.

Fritz Hansen started his company in 1872, specializing in the manufacture of small furniture parts. In 1915, the firm became the first in Denmark to make chairs using steam-bent wood (a technique most familiar from birch used in the ubiquitous café chairs by Austrian maker Thonet). At the time, Fritz Hansen was best known for seating that featured curved legs and curlicue splats and referenced 18th-century Chippendale designs.

In the next few decades, the company promoted simple, plain chairs with slatted backs and cane or rush seats designed by such proto-modernist masters as Kaare Klint and Søren Hansen. Still, the most aesthetically striking piece Fritz Hansen produced in the first half of the 20th century was arguably the China chair of 1944 by Hans Wegner — and that piece, with its yoke-shaped bentwood back- and armrest, was based on seating manufactured in China during the Ming dynasty. (Wegner was moved by portraits he’d seen of Danish merchants in the Chinese chairs.)

Everything changed in 1952 with Arne Jacobsen’s Ant chair. The collaboration between the architect and Fritz Hansen officially originated in 1934 — that year, Jacobsen created his inaugural piece for the manufacturer, the solid beechwood Bellevue chair for a restaurant commission. The Ant chair, however, was the breakthrough.

With assistance from his then-apprentice Verner Panton, Jacobsen designed the Ant chair for the cafeteria of a Danish healthcare company called Novo Nordisk. The chair was composed of a seat and backrest formed from a single piece of molded plywood attached, in its original iteration, to three tubular metal legs. Its silhouette suggests the shape of the insect’s body, and the lightweight, stackable chair and its biomorphic form became an international hit.

Jacobsen followed with more plywood successes, such as the Grand Prix chair of 1957. The following year he designed the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen and its furnishings, including the Egg chair and the Swan chair. Those two upholstered pieces, with their lush, organic frames made of fiberglass-reinforced polyurethane, have become the two chairs most emblematic of mid-20th-century cool. Moreover, the Egg and Swan led Fritz Hansen to fully embrace new man-made materials, like foam, plastic and steel wire used to realize the avant-garde creations of later generations of designers with whom the firm collaborated, such as Piet Hein, Jørn Utzon (the architect of the Sydney Opera House) and Verner Panton. If the Fritz Hansen of 1872 would not now recognize his company, today’s connoisseurs certainly do.

Find a collection of vintage Fritz Hansen tables, lounge chairs, sofas and other furniture on 1stDibs.

Creator: Fritz Hansen

Mid-Century Modern 2-Seater Brown Leather Sofa3330 by A. Vodder for Fritz Hansen

By Arne Vodder, Fritz Hansen

Located in Warszawa, Mazowieckie

This two-seater sofa model 3330 was designed by Arne Vodder for the Danish manufacturer Fritz Hansen during the 1960s. A museum piece, rarely available for sale, especially in the two-seater version. This sofa is upholstered in high-quality amber brown natural leather. Spacious and comfortable pillows are loosely placed. The wide armrests resemble the shape of a wing. The legs are made of black lacquered steel. Perfect proportions, Scandinavian craftsmanship with a clearly marked line of furniture due this project timelessness. The traditions and philosophical assumptions of Danish craftsmanship have been translated into a modern furniture idiom. Vodder was born in Denmark in 1926. Trained as a carpenter and architect, he studied with Finn Juhl at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. After school, he worked as a designer in Hindsgaul, focusing primarily on office decor. In 1950, Vodder founded his own architectural and design studio with architect Anton Borg. Over the years, the studio moved to several locations in Copenhagen before finally settling in the suburb of Holte, north of the city. Vodder and Borg worked together until the 1970s. Vodder is best known for its furniture designs that were usually simple pieces consisting of natural materials such as rosewood and teak. His designs were often inspired by natural forms. Vodder collaborated with respected brands, designing furniture for manufacturers such as Fritz Hansen, France & Søn, Nielaus, Sibast, Kircodan. In the 1950s and 1970s, Vodder furniture designs were used by President Jimmy Carter at the White House and President Anwar Sadat in Cairo, and were incorporated into the United Nations Office in Geneva and graced many hotels, banks, and embassies around the world. His works have been widely presented both individually and in collective exhibitions with artists such as Verner Panton and Nanna Ditzel. Fritz Hansen, also known as the Republic of Fritz Hansen, is a Danish furniture design company whose history begins in 1872 in Nakskov. From the very beginning, Fritz Hansen and his son Christian placed emphasis on the high quality of their furniture, which is their hallmark until the present day. The long list of orders in the first fifty years of the company's operation confirms this. At the beginning of the 20th century, Christian Hansen began experimenting with the steam-bending of beech wood, and in 1915 he created the first laminated chairs, which became the company's specialty. Arne Jacobsen completely dominated the 1950s in the company. He started working together in 1934, but his breakthrough came when he created the Ant laminated chair in 1952. The next projects: Series 7 (1955), Swan (1958) and Egg (1958), which were designed for the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, became milestones in the history of Fritz Hansen and are still produced today. This sofa is in original vintage condition. It has a natural patina and traces of age, leather scrapes, pigment changes, traces of repair on the seat. The seat is 39 cm high. Literature: Catalog of Fritz Hansen, April 1968, page 72. Mobilia Magazine...

Category

1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Fritz Hansen Canapes

Materials

Metal

Danish mid century spoke back sofa "Tremme sofa" by Børge Mogensen for Fritz Hansen, designed 1945. Model 1789. Produced since 1962. Th...

Category

1960s Danish Scandinavian Modern Vintage Fritz Hansen Canapes

Materials

Leather, Beech

Mid Century "Tremme Sofa" in Beech by Børge Mogensen for Fritz Hansen, 1985

H 33.86 in W 59.06 in D 27.56 in