When ”Danish” equals quality

The story of the golden age of Danish design often starts with Kaare Klint (1888-1954), who established a furniture school at the Academy of Fine Arts. As a result most great Danish furniture designers have related to Klint – either because they followed his approach, or because they rebelled against it.

This Cuban mahogany sideboard was designed by Klint as one of the first truely functionalistic pieces of furniture in Denmark, under the slogan ”form follows function”. The sideboard is constructed to hold a complete set of tableware for 12 persons – no less, no more. We present an early version of the sideboard. Klint’s functionalism is not about affordable furniture for the entire population, since he used exquisite materials only. As a result his furniture only gets more beautiful as the years go by, like the patinated cognac coloured Niger leather on this free-standing three-seater sofa.

Mogens Koch (1898-1992) is of Klint’s followers, who worked for the very same in 1925-1930. A few years later Koch designed his unsurpassed wall unit with classic lines. This mahogany version consists of both cabinets and bookcases.

In the years while Klint establishes the furniture department at the academy, Poul Henningsen (1894-1967) studies the light and comes up with his world-renowned PH system. The system offers favourable and pleasant lighting in one’s own home as well as in large venues. We offer a number of rare PH lamps, among others a wall lamp made for Silkeborg Cinema in 1949, a pair of PH-4/4 pendants with yellow glass shades and a PH-3,5/2 table lamp with amber glass shades from 1927 – before Henningsen’s patent had come through.

Stoneware goods are popular at the time, and at Royal Copenhagen the real showpieces are the lid vases with their beautiful glazes and ingenious bronze mountings. Among the auction highlights are two unique Carl Halier and Knud Andersen lid vases, one decorated with a grey-blue birds egg glaze and one decorated with solfatara glaze.

Returning to the furniture, Arne Jacobsen (1902- 1971) is one of the designers, who rebelled against the Klint-school. His furniture has become international icons, for instance the “Egg Chair” with the organic and feminine shapes – here in one of the most beautiful variants, patinated cognac coloured leather. A far more rare item by Jacobsen is the “Ox Chair” with matching stool. Showing powerful, masculine shapes it is the diametrically opposite of the “Egg Chair”. It was designed in 1966, but only produced in a short period of time, and as such it is one of the most sought after chairs among collectors around the world.

The exclusive elegance of Poul Kjærholm (1929-1980) carried out in steel and leather is not easily comparable to Klint, but never the less Kjærholm becomes professor at the furniture department at the academy, which Klint established. One of the many proofs of his capability is the visually light PK-9 dining chair, which does not take up much space, but is comfortable even when dinner draws out into the night. We present a set of four beautifully patinated, redbrown chairs from the original maker E. Kold Christensen.

A real innovator of Danish design is Verner Panton (1926-1998). Both when it comes to idiom and material. Plastic and bright colours characterize his designs. This orange “Flowerpot” chandelier with 20 shades leads us up to our own time and the opportunity to acquire one or several pieces of the fantastic Danish design tradition.

Visit the preview and auction at Pedersholm in Vejle for a view of the Danish design history!

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