AX-Chair by Mølgaard & Hvidt Cognac Colour Leather+Beech by Fritz Hansen 1978
View Similar Items
AX-Chair by Mølgaard & Hvidt Cognac Colour Leather+Beech by Fritz Hansen 1978
About the Item
- Creator:Fritz Hansen (Manufacturer),Hvidt & Mølgaard (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 36.62 in (93 cm)Width: 26.38 in (67 cm)Depth: 29.53 in (75 cm)Seat Height: 15.36 in (39 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1978
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Very nice and clean vintage condition with great patina.
- Seller Location:Aarhus C, DK
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU4913227515332
Hvidt & Mølgaard
Warm, exceptionally versatile and crafted with a range of appealing materials, vintage Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen furniture showcases the Danish duo’s penchant for innovation and durable design. For decades, the pair created sleek coffee tables, seductive lounge chairs and other pieces that are characterized by the practicality and elegance commonly attributed to Scandinavian modernism.
Both Hvidt and Mølgaard-Nielsen attended what is now the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, with Mølgaard-Nielsen having completed his studies under the Danish furniture design pioneer and architect Kaare Klint. Trained as an architect and cabinetmaker, Hvidt established his own firm in 1940 and taught at his alma mater for a few years. After they won a design competition held in Stockholm, Hvidt partnered with Mølgaard-Nielsen in 1944 to establish their firm in Copenhagen.
The collaboration between Hvidt and Mølgaard-Nielsen yielded more than 250 designs and lasted over 30 years. Aside from having created a wardrobe for the Queen of Denmark as well as numerous architectural structures, the pair’s flagship achievements include 1944’s teak Portex chair, which is Denmark’s first-ever stacking chair (and is occasionally attributed to Hvidt alone), and the AX chair.
A masterpiece of technical expertise and innovative woodworking, the sculptural AX armchair shares commonalities with the work of legendary Finnish designer Alvar Aalto — whose output included similarly curvaceous seating such as the Paimio armchair, often designed in partnership with his wife, Aino. It features double-curved laminated wood in the seat and back — which could be mass-produced — and is an early example of knock-down furniture. This meant that it could be easily dismantled and assembled at its destination, which rendered the chair economical for transport on cargo ships and therefore could reach a worldwide audience.
While vintage Hvidt & Mølgaard furniture isn’t as popular as the work of Finn Juhl, a like-minded Danish modernist who helped popularize Scandinavian design in America as well as the use of teak in furniture, the innovative AX chair is similarly as expressive and inviting as Juhl’s seating. The AX was designed in collaboration with manufacturer Fritz Hansen during the late 1940s and went into production in 1950. It gave way to a series that includes tables and other types of seating.
Hvidt and Mølgaard-Nielsen collaborated regularly with Fritz Hansen, France & Søn and Søborg Møbelfabrik. Their work can be found in New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen’s Design Museum and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
Find vintage Hvidt & Mølgaard dining tables, coffee tables, modular sofas, storage cabinets and more on 1stDibs.
Fritz Hansen
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.
- 1950s Mølgaard & Hvidt AX Coffee Table Teak and Beech for Fritz Hansen, DenmarkBy Fritz Hansen, Hvidt & MølgaardLocated in Aarhus C, DKVintage AX coffee table by the Danish architects Peter Hvidt & Orla Mølgaard. The table is made in the 1950s of teak with inlaid beech wood and rema...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Mid-Century Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables
MaterialsBeech, Teak
- Art Deco Lounge Chair Fritz Hansen Style Olive Green Velvet, Denmark 1930s-1940sBy Fritz HansenLocated in Aarhus C, DKFritz Hansen style model 1518 Art Deco club and lounge chair made in Denmark 1930s-1940s. The overstuffed chair is upholstered with olive green vel...Category
Early 20th Century Danish Art Deco Lounge Chairs
MaterialsVelvet, Wood
- Sigurd Ressell Falcon Lounge Chair with Black Leather and Chrome Base 1970sBy Sigurd Ressell, Vatne MøblerLocated in Aarhus C, DKRare Falcon lounge chair with armrest and chrome steel base. The cushions are upholstered with genuine black leather in very good and strong quality. The chair is made by Swedish Vat...Category
Vintage 1970s Norwegian Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- Lamino Chair by Yngve Ekström with Cognac Colored Leather Made by Swedese SwedenBy Yngve Ekström, SwedeseLocated in Aarhus C, DKLamino lounge chair with frame of steam bend plywood of beech and smooth cognac colored leather seats. This particular item is with leather stitching. The lounge chair is designed ...Category
Vintage 1980s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsLeather, Beech
- Mirja Dux Easy Chair Cognac Colored Leather Cushions Scandinavian Modern 1970sBy Bruno Mathsson, Dux of SwedenLocated in Aarhus C, DKMirja Scandinavian modern easy chair/ lounge chair manufactured by Dux of Sweden The chair has a chromium-plated steel frame and cushion upholstered with genuine cognac colored leat...Category
Vintage 1970s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- Verner Panton for Fritz Hansen "Bachelor" Magazine Rack in Leather & Steel, 1960By Verner Panton, Fritz HansenLocated in Aarhus C, DKVerner Panton magazine rack from the "Bachelor" series, designed circa 1955 and produced in Denmark by Fritz Hansen, circa 1950s-1970s. Made of leather and chrome-plated steel. This ...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Magazine Racks and Stands
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- Ax Lounge Chair by Peter Hvidt & Orla Mølgaard-NielsenBy Fritz Hansen, Hvidt & MølgaardLocated in Sagaponack, NYA Peter Hvidt & Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen designed Scandinavian Modern lounge chair in a sculptural and innovative armless design. Made of laminated teak and beech, the chair features a ...Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBeech, Teak
- Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen Ax Lounge Chair for Fritz HansenBy Hvidt & Mølgaard, Fritz HansenLocated in Munich, BavariaPeter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen AX easy lounge armchair for Fritz Hansen. Oak wood lacquered. Arms made of beech wood. Danish classic armchair with high comfort.Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Scandinavian Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsBeech, Oak
- 1950s Danish 'Ax' Chairs by Peter Hvidt & Orla Mölgaard-Nielsen for Fritz HansenBy Hvidt & Mølgaard, Fritz HansenLocated in Sagaponack, NYA pair of sculptural upholstered 'Ax' side chairs made of laminated teak and beech.Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Side Chairs
MaterialsBeech, Teak
- Ax Chair by Peter Hvidt & Orla Molgaard Neilsen for Fritz HansenBy Peter Hvidt, Fritz HansenLocated in Dorchester, MADesigned by Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard Nielsen for Fritz Hansen in 1947, the Ax Chair has a gently curved bent beechwood frame with armrests that offers a supremely comfortable se...Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsLeather, Beech, Teak
- Peter Hvidt & Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen "Ax" Lounge Chair for Fritz HansenBy Peter Hvidt, Fritz Hansen, Orla Mølgaard-NielsenLocated in Los Angeles, CAA striking chair designed by architects Peter Hvidt & Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen in collaboration with the famous artisan company Fritz Hansen in Denmark circa 1960s. Our chair uses quali...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsFabric, Foam, Laminate, Wood
- Peter Hvidt & Orla Molgaard Nielsen for Fritz Hansen "Ax" Cowhide Lounge ChairBy Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen, Peter Hvidt, Fritz HansenLocated in Philadelphia, PADesigned by two of the most iconic and critically acclaimed Danish designers, the Ax chair was brought to life by Peter Hvidt in partnership with Orla Molgaard Nielsen for production...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chairs
MaterialsCowhide, Beech, Teak