Midcentury Side Table in Ash by Fritz Hansen, Danish Design, 1940s
View Similar Items
Midcentury Side Table in Ash by Fritz Hansen, Danish Design, 1940s
About the Item
- Creator:Fritz Hansen (Cabinetmaker)
- Dimensions:Height: 19.69 in (50 cm)Width: 27.96 in (71 cm)Depth: 13.78 in (35 cm)
- Style:Scandinavian Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1940
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Lejre, DK
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU1020819076792
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.
- Armchair by Fritz Hansen, Danish Design, 1940sBy Fritz HansenLocated in Lejre, DKArmchair in faux leather designed and made by Fritz Hansen in 1940s. Original condition.Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFaux Leather, Beech
- Armchair by Fritz Hansen, Danish Design, 1940sBy Fritz HansenLocated in Lejre, DKArmchair in fabric designed and made by Fritz Hansen in 1940s. Original condition.Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFaux Leather, Beech
- Danish Armchair by Fritz Hansen, Made in Denmark, 1940sBy Fritz HansenLocated in Lejre, DKArmchair in beech and seagrass designed and made by cabinetmaker Fritz Hansen in the 1940s.Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsSeagrass, Beech
- Danish Armchair by Fritz Hansen, Made in Denmark, 1940sBy Fritz HansenLocated in Lejre, DKArmchair in beech and seagrass designed and made by cabinetmaker Fritz Hansen in the 1940s.Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsSeagrass, Beech
- Rare Lounge Chair by Fritz Hansen, Made in Denmark, 1940sBy Fritz HansenLocated in Lejre, DKLounge chair in lacquered beech and seagrass designed and made by cabinetmaker Fritz Hansen 1940s.Category
Vintage 1940s Danish Scandinavian Modern Wingback Chairs
MaterialsSeagrass, Beech
- Midcentury Side Table in Rosewood, Danish Design, 1950sLocated in Lejre, DKElegant side table in rosewood designed and made in Denmark. Great original condition.Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Scandinavian Modern Side Tables
MaterialsRosewood
- Midcentury Folding Table, Fritz Hansen, Denmark, 1960-1969By Fritz HansenLocated in Belmont, MAMidcentury folding tray table, Fritz Hansen, Denmark, 1960-1969, teak. In good original condition, some minor staining on the top. Signe...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsTeak
$1,440 Sale Price20% Off - Expertly Restored - Danish Modern Folding Tray Side Table by Fritz HansenBy Fritz HansenLocated in Los Angeles, CAVersatile Danish Modern tray table designed by H. Engholm & Svend Åge Willumsen for Fritz Hansen in Denmark circa 1950s. This extraordinary and practical table design features a sculpted teak wood base with a spider leg base and a rounded teak tray...Category
Vintage 1950s Danish Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsTeak
- Mid-Century Fritz Hansen design Spider Leg Side TablesBy Fritz HansenLocated in Las Vegas, NVA pair of spider leg side table designed by Fritz Hansen for the lounge at Scandinavian Airlines in Denmark. Nickel-plated base with enameled wo...Category
Late 20th Century Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Pair of Fritz Hansen Side TableBy Fritz HansenLocated in Brussels, BEFritz Hansen side table.Category
Vintage 1960s European Mid-Century Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMetal
- Fritz Hansen Triangle Side Table 1980s Postmodern Chrome Danish VintageBy Fritz HansenLocated in London, GBA postmodern by Fritz Hansen in triangular birch top in dark orange/teak colour. The tabletop is supported by three metal chromed hairpin-like legs, with their plastic feet. The side...Category
Vintage 1980s Danish Post-Modern Side Tables
MaterialsMetal, Chrome
- Fritz Hansen Sewing Box in Beechwood and Leather by Søren Hansen, Denmark, 1933By Fritz Hansen, Søren HansenLocated in Odense, DKRare and important piece of design from the early beginning of the Danish Modern furniture era. This sewing box was made at Fritz Hansen & Son, Copenhagen in the 1930s. It is made fr...Category
Vintage 1930s Danish Scandinavian Modern Side Tables
MaterialsLeather, Beech