An early photograph of the factory in Odense. Copyright Carl Hansen.

Carl Hansen & Son, the furniture manufacturer, was founded in Odense in 1908. They are probably best known for the CH24 chair, better known as the Wishbone Chair, designed for them by Hans Wegner in 1949, launched in 1950 and in continuous production ever since.

The company has a well-deserved reputation for traditional craftsmanship combined with an outstanding sense of design. Over the last few years they have not just consolidated their commercial position but have opened major flagship stores to raise their profile.

In December 2011 they acquired Rud Rasmussen, the joinery company, founded in Copenhagen in 1869 and famous for making the modular shelving system that was designed by Mogens Koch in 1928.

In October 2011, Carl Hansen opened a new showroom in New York, on Hudson Street in Lower Manhattan; then exactly a year ago, on 16th March 2013, they opened a new flagship store in Copenhagen at Bredgade 21, and at the beginning of this month, in March 2014, they opened a new flagship store in Tokyo.

Bredgade in Copenhagen is the most important street in the city for art galleries and antique shops, starting at the west end with the furniture dealer Klassik and running on to the Danish Design Museum at the east end. The Carl Hansen store is set out over two floors with extensive displays of all their major pieces of furniture and of course shelving from the Rud Rasmussen collection.

In the 1980s a new logo was designed for Carl Hansen by Bernt Petersen with a blue square and a white letter C but recently, to mark the centenary of the birth of Hans Wegner, and to mark their collaboration with the designer from 1949, Carl Hansen have reverted to the logo designed for the company by Wegner in 1950 with a red circle and the letters CHS in white.

Carl Hansen has an extensive web site, including very useful information about how to care for and maintain their furniture and they have just published the first edition of an online design magazine.