upholstery by Carl Hansen

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For 3daysofdesign, the Carl Hansen store normally sets up a demonstration to show how one of the classic designs in their collection is made. This year there was a Mama Bear arm chair where the upholstery had been cut vertically down the centre and half of the fabric and the upholstery had been taken away to reveal the structure of the chair underneath.

There was also a craftsman, set up in the store with a workbench, who was covering a new chair.

There are two important points to be made. First, the structure in wood beneath the upholstery is as well made and as rationally and as carefully designed as if it is to be seen. Here the frame gives the final chair not just its overall shape but also forms some of the distinct features of the design so, in this chair, the sharp crease across the back is created by pulling back the fabric to a curved slot in a curved cross timber at the centre of the back.

Then, second, you can see the importance of the way in which the fabric is cut with a very precise pattern and it is fitted tightly over the different types of upholstery with layers creating soft padding in some areas and firmer support in others and with sharp seams or, when the design needs it, strong lines of piping to create the neat but smart fit …. as sharp as any hand-made suit from Savile Row.

Perhaps there is nowhere better to understand the quality of the work than to see how the upholstery fits neatly without gaps or tension around the wood arm of the chair.

The Mama Bear Chair was designed by Hans Wegner in 1954 and has just be reissued by Carl Hansen.

Carl Hansen & Son

Høj barnestol / child’s high chair by Nanna Ditzel (1955)

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At 3daysofdesign, Carl Hansen & Son relaunched the high chair that was designed by Nanna Ditzel in 1955. It was in production until 2002 but then failed to meet new standards of stability for children’s furniture.

In this new version of the chair, the angle of the legs has been increased to make the base wider.

The chair still has a foot rest with three possible fixing points so that it can be moved to lower levels as a toddler grows but the new version has an optional plywood back rest that is shaped and curved to fix inside the hoop of the top rail and there is an optional brass plate that can be inscribed with a name and date as the first stage to make the piece a family heirloom. The underside of the seat is drilled with holes for the plate.

Carl Hansen & Søn

 

Lulu and Vita - the twin daughters of Nanna Ditzel

 

Høj barnestol 115 (new reference ND54)
designed by Nanna Ditzel (1923-2005)

made by Kolds Savværk and then Kvist Møbler and made now by Carl Hansen
original chair in Oregon Pine or beech

height 71cm
base 53cm by 53cm

 

Y-Stolen I nye jubilæumsfarver / The Wishbone in new anniversary colours

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Carl Hansen & Son was founded 110 years ago and to mark their anniversary the company has released the Wishbone Chair by Hans Wegner in a range of eight new colours with Navy Blue, Russet Red, Deep Olive, Rosy Blush, Deep Burgundy, Oyster Gray, Forest Green, Midnight Blue and all with a semi-matt sheen finish.

This is one obvious way to give this classic design ongoing appeal and relevance for another generation of customers but it also shows just how important not just the colour but the exact tone or depth of colour, and the finish is in making a design look fashionable and appropriate for a modern interior.

As one single factor, colour seems to be more important than the form and the details of the piece and even, curiously, more significant than any perception we may have of the date of the piece or any gut feeling we may have of the style of a piece of furniture.

How do design teams select a very specific range of colours like this? Is there really a zeitgeist - colours that somehow we recognise as 'of this moment' or, being by inclination sceptical, is this marketing and advertising driven?

Some time ago I saw a photograph of a Wishbone Chair in matt black with the paper-cord seat in black and set against a wall painted with matt blackboard paint with a floor of wide and very pale unvarnished boards and I thought how incredibly elegant and how sophisticated it looked. I see a Wishbone Chair in a high-gloss, bright blue paint and my first reaction is that it might be good in a large kitchen but I'm not sure I like it even though it is exactly the same chair. How can our reactions be so strong and so instant and, apparently, based on colours alone?

The Wishbone Chairs in these new anniversary colours are available until 31 December 2018.

 

Carl Hansen & Son