My series 7 chairs from Arne Jacobsen...
One of my Black chairs!
I purchased my first two aqua blue Arne Jacobsen stackable chairs, when I lived in Copenhagen in the mid 90's, and I inherited two black ones from an old company canteen in Hellerup some years later. I treasure them so much, that they will be in my home for ever!
Both my Aqua Blue and Black stacked!
The design is simple, and they remind me of being Danish! Not all our house guest think they are all that, also because they have now been copied by a few other furniture giants, so they are not so recognisable! For me, they are part of our home and I couldn't imagine living with out them! You can even get a small special designed cushion for the seat, if your bottom gets cold. The chairs are made of 11 layers of thin wood veneer, that are covered in two layers of varnish, so they can feel a bit cold when sitting on them at first, but they do warm up pretty quickly!
Even though my chairs now have a few scratches, I still can't help thinking, when I can get more! It does require a bigger house I'm afraid, but I just love the design and their colours. They come in many beautiful tones, and they are now being introduced in 9 new colours and 9 new different wood varieties, (Republic, the annual briefing from Fritz Hansen's universe no. 10/2012). The idea behind offering the chair in so many colours, is to create a great colour palette, either when they are stacked or placed around a table. Some people prefer them all in one colour, matching perhaps other colours in their home or adding a new colour, but I think there are too many nice colours to choose from, I want to have them all!
The chair was originally designed for the canteen of the world famous pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk in Denmark about 60 years ago, the Danish manufacturer Fritz Hansen has now produced more than 8 million chairs! That is an incredible achievement, wow...!
Fritz Hansen is going strong and have now opened their first flagship store in London called Republic of Fritz Hansen. The doors should also be open now in their new Japan store and the Stockholm store is expanding and moving to a more exclusive area, so there is plenty of opportunity for customers to now go directly to the brand and buy iconic designs right then and there (sorry they do have a short lead time for delivery)! The shops offer a big range of Scandinavian Iconic furniture such as the Egg and the Swan, vintage glass and pottery mixed with Iittala and other Scandinavian home accessories. It's a real pleasure to visit. They also have special limited editions at the moment, of Poul Kjaerholm's iconic masterpieces and the new furniture series from Cecilie Manz called Minuscule.
Store front from Margaret Street
The store Flag with the Iconic Egg Chair profile!
Arne Jacobsen was a famous architect, artist and designer. His work is incredible and influential to the furniture design of the 20th century. Go to one of the Republic of Fritz Hansen stores if you can, you wont regret it! The worst thing that could happen is, that you will want to re-decorate your home!
Enjoy,
Pernille
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