Danish design: the furniture, lighting and tableware to know
Danish modern furniture grew out of the 1920s, when Kaare Klint taught his students at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts to pair modern needs with traditional cabinetmaking; Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner and Finn Juhl carried it into a thriving industry from the 1940s to the 1960s. Exports of Danish furniture rose from DKK 9.8 million in 1953 to DKK 257.8 million in 1964. Many of those pieces, and the porcelain and silver of older workshops, are still made by the houses that first made them.
Furniture
The chairs, tables and sofas of Danish modern, and the houses that make them.
Fritz Hansen A furniture house founded in Denmark in 1872 that makes Arne Jacobsen's Egg, Swan and Series 7 chairs.
Carl Hansen & Søn A family-owned furniture maker on Funen, founded in 1908, that makes Hans J. Wegner's Wishbone Chair.
HAY A Copenhagen furniture and homeware company founded in 2002 by Mette and Rolf Hay.
Muuto A Copenhagen design company founded in 2006 that makes furniture, lighting and accessories with Scandinavian designers.
Egg chair Arne Jacobsen's lounge chair with a high, curved shell, designed for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen and made by Fritz Hansen.- Series 7 Arne Jacobsen's stacking chair of moulded veneer on steel legs, model 3107, made by Fritz Hansen since 1955.
Wishbone Chair Hans J. Wegner's dining chair with a Y-shaped back and a woven paper-cord seat, the CH24, made by Carl Hansen & Søn since 1950.
Round Chair Hans J. Wegner's armchair of 1949 with a single curved back and arm rail, made today by PP Møbler as the PP501 and PP503.- PP Møbler A cabinetmaking workshop run by the Pedersen family that makes Hans J. Wegner's furniture, among it the Round Chair.
Vipp A family company that began with a steel pedal bin made in Randers in 1939 and now makes kitchens, lighting and furniture.
Lighting
The lamps designed in Denmark that hang in homes around the world.
Louis Poulsen A Copenhagen lighting maker founded in 1874 that makes Poul Henningsen's PH lamps.
Le Klint A lamp maker founded in Odense in 1943 that folds cross-pleated lampshades by hand, to a technique the Klint family worked out around 1900.- PH 5 Poul Henningsen's pendant of 1958, a set of shades that hides the bulb, made by Louis Poulsen.
Tableware
Porcelain, silver, glass and steel for the table, from Copenhagen workshops and beyond.
Royal Copenhagen The porcelain factory founded in Copenhagen in 1775, known for its hand-painted Blue Fluted and Flora Danica services.
Georg Jensen The silversmithy the silversmith Georg Jensen opened in Copenhagen in 1904, known for its silver hollowware and cutlery.
Kay Bojesen The silversmith Kay Bojesen's designs, above all the Grand Prix cutlery, made today by his granddaughter's company.
Stelton A Danish maker of steel tableware founded in 1960, known for Arne Jacobsen's Cylinda-Line and Erik Magnussen's EM77 vacuum jug.
Textiles
Upholstery fabric, rugs and throws designed and woven in Denmark.
