Minerva 2-Seat Sofa by Peter Hvidt & Orla Mølgaard Nielsen for France & Son

The giant of mid-century furniture design France & Søn began its remarkable journey as a Danish firm specializing in the production and exporting of Scandinavian design called France & Daverkosen.

British businessman Charles William Fearnley France and Danish cabinetmaker Eric Daverkosen entered into a joint venture in 1936 — France being the investor and Daverkosen the head designer for their small mattress factory. Soon after production started at the France & Daverkosen company, Daverkosen became quite ill.

Concerned for his friend and their fledgling business, France traveled to Denmark, and Daverkosen died soon after his partner arrived. While France was attempting to make arrangements to transfer the company into his hands, World War II erupted, and Germany invaded Denmark. As a British citizen, France was captured and sent to a prison camp in Germany.

While in captivity, France developed several manufacturing ideas to pass the time and to keep his mind focused. He imagined a way to create lightweight wooden chairs that could be manufactured on an industrial scale and transported using an economic flat-pack format. He also thought of a way to retool his mattress factory to create chair backs, seats and sofa cushions. 

Once freed, France returned to his business in Denmark and began to manufacture beech and teak goods that were gaining widespread acclaim around the world. He began to surround himself with some of the best Scandinavian designers of the time: Finn Juhl, Grete Jalk and Ole Wanscher, to name a few.

By 1954, France & Daverkosen accounted for 60 percent of all Danish furniture exports and their factory employed 350 people. Charles’s son James joined the company in 1957, which resulted in the name change to France & Søn.

Later, France & Søn was acquired by Danish designer Poul Cadovius, who folded it into the operations at CADO, a company he founded during the 1950s. 

On 1stDibs, find France & Daverkosen seating, tables and more.