History: Hans Jorgensen Wegner

Source of version: 28 (current)

{trackerlist trackerId="1" wiki="Notable people past_info" view="page"}

!Early Life
{FOOTNOTE()}Wikipedia contributors. "Hans Wegner." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 27 Jul. 2019. Web. 25 Oct. 2019.{FOOTNOTE}Born to cobbler Peter M. Wegner in Tønder, in southern Denmark, he worked as a child apprentice to master cabinetmaker H. F. Stahlberg. He soon discovered he had a feeling for wood and developed an affinity towards the material. Finishing his apprenticeship at 17 he remained in the workshop for another three years before joining the army. He went to technical college after serving in the military, and then to the Danish School of Arts and Crafts and the Architectural Academy in Copenhagen.

In Copenhagen he became acquainted with the city's Carpenters' Guild Furniture Exhibits, started in 1927. The exhibits were a laboratory for experimentation between Master Cabinetmakers such as Johannes Hansen, L. Pontoppidan, Niels Vodder, Jacob Kjær, A. J. Iversen, Moos and Rudolf Rasmussen and the best architects of the time, such as Kaare Klint, Vilhelm Lauritzen, Ole Wanscher and Mogens Voltelen.

These annual exhibits gave Wegner a first-hand experience of what the combination of workmanship and design could produce. Wegner decided to become a designer with the aim of producing and selling his furniture. Therefore, in 1936, he began studies at what is now The Danish Design School, with O. Mølgaard Nielsen as teacher.

Even his earliest objects, like an armchair with sloping armrests like relaxed wrists (a 1937 design for an exhibit at the Museum of Decorative Arts), exhibited Wegner's approach of "stripping the old chairs of their outer style and letting them appear in their pure construction."

Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller had established a studio together to design and build Aarhus City Hall. In 1938 Wegner was employed in Aarhus, first under architects Erik Møller and Flemming Lassen and then in 1940 under Jacobsen and Møller. Wegner's task was to design the furniture for the City Hall. 
!Later Life
''Enter your factual information of your research subjects later life, such as extended education, military service, marriages, children, residence, a career path, and associations, etc. Replace this text with your own.''

!Career
"Enter your factual information of your research subjects career(s), most likely something in woodworking or the related disciplines, what did he or she specialize in, what did they enjoy doing, what impact did their career choice have on the arts and crafts and industry of woodworking, etc. Replace this text with your own. ''

!Image Gallery
{img type="fileId" fileId="455" thumb="box" height="220" desc="Hans Wegner's \"The Chair\"" alt="hans wegner the chair" stylebox="border"} {img type="fileId" fileId="527" thumb="box" height="229" desc="Teak and Cane chair" alt="teak and cane chair" stylebox="border"}

!Quotes
{QUOTE(replyto="Hans Jorgensen Wegner" source_url="https://www.azquotes.com/quote/640370")}A chair is to have no backside. It should be beautiful from all sides and angles.

Many foreigners have asked me how we made the Danish style. And I've answered that it...was rather a continuous process of purification, and for me of simplification, to cut down to the simplest possible elements of four legs, a seat and combined top rail and arm rest.
{QUOTE}

{QUOTE(replyto="Hans Jorgensen Wegner" source_url="https://www.azquotes.com/quote/640369")}Many foreigners have asked me how we made the Danish style. And I've answered that it...was rather a continuous process of purification, and for me of simplification, to cut down to the simplest possible elements of four legs, a seat and combined top rail and arm rest.{QUOTE}
!Publications
''Place the book titles and links here, these book titles and links should be literature that was created by your research subject. Replace this text with your own.''

!Further Reading
''Place the book titles and links here, these book titles and links should be literature that was created about your research subject. Replace this text with your own.''

!External Links
* [https://www.carlhansen.com/en|Carl Hansen and Son] (the son of Hans Jorgensen Wegner)

!References
{footnotearea}

!Bibliography
Related content

History: Hans Jorgensen Wegner

Source of version: 28 (current)

Related content

Most Popular Tags
