Carl Hansen & Søn

Why it is renowned

Carl Hansen & Søn makes many of the classic designs of Danish modern furniture, by Hans J. Wegner, Kaare Klint, Arne Jacobsen, Ole Wanscher, Børge Mogensen and Poul Kjærholm.¹ Wegner's Y Chair, known as the Wishbone Chair, was already its best seller in the 1950s, when Danish furniture was finding buyers in the United States.¹ The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York holds a Wishbone Chair in beech and paper cord made by Carl Hansen & Søn in Gelsted between about 1950 and 1979, and calls the chair Wegner's greatest commercial success.² Exports rose from a fifth of its sales in 1998 to more than half by 2008; Japan is its second most important market outside Scandinavia, with flagship stores in Tokyo since 2014 and Osaka since 2018.¹

The story

The master cabinetmaker Carl Hansen opened his first workshop in Odense on 28 October 1908.¹ His son Holger Hansen took over in 1934, and in 1949 a meeting arranged by the salesman Ejvind Kold Christensen began the company's long collaboration with Hans J. Wegner.¹ Knud Erik Hansen, the founder's grandson, has led the company since 2002; it is based at its factory in Gelsted outside Odense and has a flagship store on Bredgade in Copenhagen.¹³

What to know it by

• Wishbone Chair¹Hans J. WegnerDining chair, also called the Y Chair
• Elbow Chair (CH20)¹Hans J. WegnerChair
• Shell Chair (CH07)¹Hans J. WegnerLounge chair
• CH25 Easy Chair¹Hans J. WegnerLounge chair