Hans Jørgen Wegner

April 2, 1914 - January 26, 2007 

 Wegner was one of the most innovative and prolific of all Danish furniture designers that made mid-century Danish design internationally popular. His work belongs to a modernist school that preserves function. He is probably best known for his many chairs of genuine craftsmanship. 

Wegner's chair designs were manufactured primarily by PP Møbler and Carl Hansen & Søn, and were made with the modern, sculptural idea that they could stand on their own, rather than as parts of a furniture set. The "Peacock" chair from 1947, with a slatted back rest fanning out to evoke the bird's plume, was inspired by the traditional "Windsor" chair. His 1949 folding chair was made to be hung on the wall, and his "Shell" chair from the same year experimented with curving the wood in three dimensions to form the seat. The multi-purpose "Valet" chair, designed in 1953, had elements for hanging up or storing each piece of a man's suit. The backrest is carved to be used as a coat hanger, pants can be hung on a rail at the edge of the seat and everything else can be stowed in a storage space underneath the seat. In 1960 he came out with several variations on the "Ox" chair which came with or without horns, and was a fine example of the line Wegner could masterfully walk between elegance and playfulness. "We must take care," he once said, "that everything doesn't get so dreadfully serious. We must play, but we must play seriously." In more recent years he continued to design chairs and also worked with lighting, such as the "Pole" lamp created in 1976 with his daughter Marianne. Wegner stated that, "The good chair is a task one is never completely done with." 

Source:  Wikipedia