Carl Hansen & Søn: from The Incredibles to Architectural Digest
The chairs that became design icons
There are some pieces of furniture you seem to know without quite knowing why.
You’ve seen them in restaurants, hotels, magazines and beautifully designed homes. Quite possibly on television too. You might not know who designed them, when they were made or what combination of letters and numbers they’re officially called.
You just recognise them.
Carl Hansen & Søn has rather a lot of those.
And perhaps that’s why the current return to mid-century design feels less like a new trend and more like rediscovering something we never completely fell out of love with.
The one you definitely know: the Wishbone Chair
The CH24 Wishbone Chair was designed by Hans J. Wegner in 1949 and has been in continuous production since 1950.
Which is quite something when you think about how many interior trends have come and gone during that time.
Avocado bathrooms. Magnolia everything. Shag pile. Grey everything.
The Wishbone Chair has quietly carried on.
Where have I seen that?
Quite possibly on screen. The Wishbone has appeared in Normal People, The Bridge and Jessica Jones. You'll also have seen it countless times in restaurants, hotels and interiors magazines.
House & Garden has even described it as possibly the most frequently seen dining chair in the homes it features.
There's a reason for that.
It's distinctive without demanding attention. The curved back gives it its familiar silhouette, while the woven paper-cord seat stops it feeling too formal. Put it around a beautiful dining table and it looks considered. Put a single one at a desk or dressing table and it works just as well.
And despite its apparently simple appearance, each chair requires more than 100 production steps. The seat alone is woven by hand using around 120 metres of paper cord.
That's the bit we like: something that looks effortless but really isn't.
The Shell Chair: apparently 1963 wasn't ready for it
The CH07 Shell Chair has a rather good story.
Wegner designed it in 1963 and, although critics appreciated it, the public wasn't quite so convinced. Its unusual three-legged shape was simply a little too different and only a limited number were produced.
Fast-forward to 1998, when Carl Hansen & Søn reintroduced it.
This time people loved it.
It hadn't really changed. We had.
Where have I seen that?
If you're a Pixar fan, perhaps The Incredibles. More recently, the Shell Chair has appeared in Severance — a series where the furniture and interiors are almost characters in their own right.
Once you know its distinctive three-legged silhouette, you'll start spotting it everywhere.
Today its curved, low-slung shape feels completely at home in a contemporary living room.
It feels unmistakably mid-century and surprisingly contemporary at the same time.
The CH25: the one you've probably seen in an interiors magazine
The CH25 Easy Chair is another Wegner design from 1950, and one of those pieces that feels strangely familiar.
Where have I seen that?
Possibly in the pages of an interiors magazine or a beautifully designed hotel. It's one of those mid-century pieces that stylists and interior designers return to again and again. Architectural Digest has even devoted an entire review to it.
But when it first appeared, it was actually rather radical.
Wegner used paper cord across both the seat and back — a material developed as a substitute for seagrass during the Second World War and, at the time, an unusual choice for furniture.
More than 70 years later, that woven texture is precisely what makes the CH25 look so good in contemporary interiors.
And there's rather more work involved than its relaxed appearance suggests.
Each chair takes a skilled craftsperson around ten hours to weave, using approximately 400 metres of paper cord.
That's nearly four football pitches.
For one chair.
Perhaps that's why it photographs so well. From a distance it's beautifully simple. Up close, you realise quite how much is going on.
Where have I seen that before?
Perhaps the real reason these chairs have lasted isn't their place in design history. It's much simpler than that.
They're beautiful, comfortable and remarkably easy to live with.
Seventy years on, that's still quite hard to beat.
You can discover a selection of Carl Hansen & Søn furniture at Sapphire Spaces in Devon — and, most importantly, sit on it.
There are some pieces of furniture you seem to know without quite knowing why.
You’ve seen them in restaurants, hotels, magazines and beautifully designed homes. Quite possibly on television too. You might not know who designed them, when they were made or what combination of letters and numbers they’re officially called.
You just recognise them.
Carl Hansen & Søn has rather a lot of those.
And perhaps that’s why the current return to mid-century design feels less like a new trend and more like rediscovering something we never completely fell out of love with.
The one you definitely know: the Wishbone Chair
The CH24 Wishbone Chair was designed by Hans J. Wegner in 1949 and has been in continuous production since 1950.
Which is quite something when you think about how many interior trends have come and gone during that time.
Avocado bathrooms. Magnolia everything. Shag pile. Grey everything.
The Wishbone Chair has quietly carried on.
Where have I seen that?
Quite possibly on screen. The Wishbone has appeared in Normal People, The Bridge and Jessica Jones. You'll also have seen it countless times in restaurants, hotels and interiors magazines.
House & Garden has even described it as possibly the most frequently seen dining chair in the homes it features.
There's a reason for that.
It's distinctive without demanding attention. The curved back gives it its familiar silhouette, while the woven paper-cord seat stops it feeling too formal. Put it around a beautiful dining table and it looks considered. Put a single one at a desk or dressing table and it works just as well.
And despite its apparently simple appearance, each chair requires more than 100 production steps. The seat alone is woven by hand using around 120 metres of paper cord.
That's the bit we like: something that looks effortless but really isn't.
The Shell Chair: apparently 1963 wasn't ready for it
The CH07 Shell Chair has a rather good story.
Wegner designed it in 1963 and, although critics appreciated it, the public wasn't quite so convinced. Its unusual three-legged shape was simply a little too different and only a limited number were produced.
Fast-forward to 1998, when Carl Hansen & Søn reintroduced it.
This time people loved it.
It hadn't really changed. We had.
Where have I seen that?
If you're a Pixar fan, perhaps The Incredibles. More recently, the Shell Chair has appeared in Severance — a series where the furniture and interiors are almost characters in their own right.
Once you know its distinctive three-legged silhouette, you'll start spotting it everywhere.
Today its curved, low-slung shape feels completely at home in a contemporary living room.
It feels unmistakably mid-century and surprisingly contemporary at the same time.
The CH25: the one you've probably seen in an interiors magazine
The CH25 Easy Chair is another Wegner design from 1950, and one of those pieces that feels strangely familiar.
Where have I seen that?
Possibly in the pages of an interiors magazine or a beautifully designed hotel. It's one of those mid-century pieces that stylists and interior designers return to again and again. Architectural Digest has even devoted an entire review to it.
But when it first appeared, it was actually rather radical.
Wegner used paper cord across both the seat and back — a material developed as a substitute for seagrass during the Second World War and, at the time, an unusual choice for furniture.
More than 70 years later, that woven texture is precisely what makes the CH25 look so good in contemporary interiors.
And there's rather more work involved than its relaxed appearance suggests.
Each chair takes a skilled craftsperson around ten hours to weave, using approximately 400 metres of paper cord.
That's nearly four football pitches.
For one chair.
Perhaps that's why it photographs so well. From a distance it's beautifully simple. Up close, you realise quite how much is going on.
Where have I seen that before?
Perhaps the real reason these chairs have lasted isn't their place in design history. It's much simpler than that.
They're beautiful, comfortable and remarkably easy to live with.
Seventy years on, that's still quite hard to beat.
You can discover a selection of Carl Hansen & Søn furniture at Sapphire Spaces in Devon