Twisted paper cord woven across an open wood frame has been used to form the seats of Danish chairs since the 1940s but through the 1950s and 1960s paper cord became perhaps the most distinctive and, for some people, the type of seat most closely associated with chairs from the Danish Modern period … Hans Wegner used paper cord for many of his most important chairs including the Windsor-style Rocking Chair and the Chinese Chair - both designed in 1944 - the Peacock Chair from 1947; the Wishbone Chair that was produced by Carl Hansen & Son from 1950 and then for a series of remarkable chairs including the CH44 from 1965, with its thin seat and four thin slats across the back, in a style reminiscent of Shaker chairs, and the PP201 from 1969 that could hardly be more refined and elegant.
The idea of weaving a chair seat across the open frame of a chair was not new: antique Danish chairs with seats in twisted straw survive from the 18th century and from even earlier there are chairs with rudimentary seats in rope and then, from the 19th century, split cane or rattan was used to form the seats and backs of chairs. *
Woven cane and even basket-like seats were used for several early, modern chairs and interlaced woven canvas webbing and even interlaced strips of leather were used for seats and backs in several chairs designed in the 1930s but as war engulfed Europe and, in this context, more important as war overtook the Far East it became more difficult and then impossible to source rattan or cane and merchant shipping was first disrupted and then soon became impossible for transporting anything but essential goods - not just in the Baltic and North Sea but around Africa and across the Indian Ocean.
Several articles suggest that initially paper cord was developed in the war as an alternative to string for wrapping parcels … but, so far, I have found no references to indicate which Danish paper mills first produced paper cord or when production started and no reference to indicate who,- which designer or which furniture maker - first used paper cord on a chair as an alternative to cane.
Paper cord used by Danish companies is twisted with three strands that form a cord 3.5 to 3.6mm thick … although this is usually expressed as 7 strands to an inch. It is generally unbleached - so a natural colour - although a number of chairs are produced with an option to have black cord or even white bleached paper cord. However, it is the natural light brown or dark cream colour that seems to work particularly well with oak but can also look striking when there is slightly more contrast with a darker wood for the chair frame such as walnut. Natural cord works well with wood that has been stained black but I'm not easily convinced that it works as well with white or with pale wood like ash or the colour of beech that tends to darken over time to a yellow.
There are videos on the internet that take you through the process of weaving a seat for anyone wanting to restore a chair. Perhaps the most difficult part is to keep the tension right across the whole seat and to keep the lines of cord regular and straight, particularly the diagonal line running in to the centre when it is that pattern of weaving, and difficult to do it properly so the pattern remains even as the weaving settles into place. Generally, the cords running front to back seem tighter than the cords running in from each side.
Apparently, most paper cord is lightly waxed so, to some extent, resists dirt and the web site for Carl Hansen has useful suggestions for how to clean and maintain paper cord. With care a good seat is said to last up to 60 years before it needs to be rewoven.
note:
*Early examples are illustrated in Danske Bondemøbler by Axel Steenberg and the distinct arrangement of the seat rails found on many of the modern chairs with paper cord - with the side rails set higher than the front rail forming the hollow shape of the seat - can be seen on several of these earlier chairs.