Hans J. Wegner x Ilse Crawford, Reimagining the Classics

Hans J. Wegner x Ilse Crawford

Reimagining the Classics

To celebrate Hans J. Wegner’s enduring legacy and more than 70 years of collaboration with Carl Hansen & Søn, we have partnered with acclaimed designer Ilse Crawford to develop a new color palette for a limited-edition release of the first chairs he created for us back in 1950.

Pairing Wegner’s innate understanding of how a piece of furniture is experienced with Crawford’s inherent sense of the space in which it is placed, these icons of mid 20th century Danish design are reimagined through a contemporary lens. ”I wanted to develop a set of colors that reflect the times we live in. These are not easy, trend-driven or standard decorative colors, but ones that add depth and complexity to any interior,” explains Crawford.

The reinterpretation of Wegner’s work alludes to his pioneering spirit and philosophy of constantly improving, refining, pushing and experimenting. The carefully curated palette of translucent, water-based paints were inspired by the expressionist works of Per Kirkeby, one of Denmark’s most significant painters and selected to create a warm and relaxed atmosphere, as well as to allow the natural beauty of the wood grain to shine through each design. Elevating the chairs’ physicality by using a new color scheme with its own cultural history rooted in Nordic abstraction creates an expression that is both timeless and timely.

Ilse Crawford

Ilse Crawford is a London-based designer, academic and creative director with a simple mission to put human needs and desires at the centre of all that she does. Studioilse creates environments where humans feel comfortable; public spaces that make people feel at home and homes that are habitable and make sense for the people who live in them. The projects have become benchmarks in their field, including Soho House New York, the first Aesop store in London and Ett Hem hotel in Stockholm.

Crawford has more than thirty years at the forefront of the international design world. Prior to Studioilse, she was the founding editor of Elle Decoration UK, launched well-being magazine BARE, and the home division of Donna Karan. In 2014 Crawford was awarded an MBE for services to Interior Design and in 2015 received an Honorary Doctorate from the London College of Communication, University of Arts London.

In addition to the Studioilse, Crawford is a leading advocate of systemic wellbeing design having founded and run the Man and Wellbeing department at the Design Academy Eindhoven. She lectures widely and has published three books about her design philosophy.

Among Danish furniture designers, Hans J. Wegner is considered one of the most creative, innovative and prolific. Often referred to as the master of the chair, he designed more than 500 – many of them considered masterpieces.

Hans J. Wegner

1914 – 2007

Hans J. Wegner was part of the spectacular generation that created the first wave of Danish Modern design. “Many foreigners have asked me how we created the Danish style,” Wegner once said. “And I’ve answered that it was a continuous process of purification and of simplification - to cut down to the simplest possible design of four legs, a seat, and a combined back- and armrest.” The core of Wegner’s legacy is his focus on showing the inner soul of furniture pieces through a simple and functional exterior. Wegner began his apprenticeship with Danish master cabinetmaker H. F. Stahlberg when he was just 14 years old. Later, he moved to Copenhagen and attended the School of Arts and Crafts from 1936 to 1938.

Wegner’s background as a cabinetmaker gave him a deep understanding of how to integrate exacting joinery techniques with exquisite form. His aesthetic was also based on a deep respect for wood and its characteristics, and a vast curiosity about other natural materials that enabled him to bring an organic, natural softness to formalistic minimalism. Wegner established his own design studio in 1943 and created a series of chairs for Carl Hansen & Søn in 1950, including the Wishbone Chair, which has been in production at Carl Hansen & Søn ever since.