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Fritz Hansen
HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC
Behind the world famous Fritz Hansen brand is the story of a far-sighted family of Danish cabinetmakers who revolutionised the Scandinavian furniture industry producing some of the world’s most revered design classics in the process. Through creative partnerships with visionary designers and architects such as Arne Jacobsen, Hans J. Wegner and Poul Kjærholm, Fritz Hansen has developed a corporate culture characterised by the love of good craftsmanship coupled with a desire to make the most of modern industrial production methods in the manufacturing and distribution of good design. Even today, 135 years after the company was founded, this approach is a major reason for the continued commercial success of Fritz Hansen in the 21st century.
The year is 1847. Denmark sees the opening of the Carlsberg breweries, and the country’s first railway line, from Copenhagen to Roskilde, is inaugurated by King Christian VIII on June 26. It is also the year that Fritz Hansen, founder of Fritz Hansen Ltd., is born in the small provincial town of Nakskov on the island of Lolland. Fritz Hansen grows up and becomes apprenticed to a local cabinetmaker in his home town, but at 25 years of age, the young and ambitious craftsman decides to head for Copenhagen to open a shop of his own. Fritz Hansen obtains his “Certificate of Bourgeois Status” as master cabinetmaker in 1872. Although modest in size, the shop is located near the fashionable quarters surrounding the Kongens Nytorv square and the Amalienborg Palace, home to the royal family.
In 1896 the business expands significantly when Fritz Hansen acquires a building ground in the town of Lillerød north of Copenhagen and two years later opens his own sawmill on the site. The expansion continues, and when his son, Christian Edvard Hansen (1874-1954), takes the helm of the company in 1899, the mill and workshop together employ more than 50 people.
After prolonged ill-health, Fritz Hansen dies, only 55 years of age, in 1902, the same year that Christian E. Hansen’s first son, Poul Fritz Hansen, is born. Under Christian E. Hansen the company undergoes a gradual transformation from a traditional cabinetmaker business to an industrialised furniture manufacturer, inspired by the budding functionalism that gains ground in the early 1900s. The functionalist movement was heavily influenced by the German Bauhaus school, and it sees the introduction of novel materials and production technologies. Early on, Fritz Hansen begin to experiment with the rationality and new aesthetics offered by the industrial production methods.
As early as in 1915, Fritz Hansen begins manufacturing the first steam bentwood chair in Denmark, and during the 1920s and 30s the company develops a line of tubular steel furniture inspired by famous architects such as Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
In 1928 the two sons of Christian E. Hansen, Poul Fritz Hansen (1902-1987) and Søren Christian Hansen (1905-1977) enter the company management, and this marks the beginning of another important era in the long history of Fritz Hansen.
Thus, in 1934 Fritz Hansen teams up with architect Professor Kaare Klint and the young and promising design talent Arne Jacobsen, and they produce a dining chair of Jacobsen’s for the restaurant at the Bellevue theatre, designed by Jacobsen himself, in Klampenborg north of Copenhagen.
The close partnership with cutting-edge furniture designers such as Hans J. Wegner (The China Chair, 1944) and Børge Mogensen (The Spokeback Sofa, 1945) continues and strengthens the company’s profile considerably during the 1940s and 50s. The culmination comes with the introduction of the ground-breaking stacking chair known as The Ant, originally designed by Arne Jacobsen for the canteen area at the Danish healthcare company Novo Nordisk in 1952. The chair is the first of its kind, and it is the result of a unique co-operation between the visionary architect and Fritz Hansen who, at this stage, is a pioneer in the difficult field of lamination techniques. The techniques are eventually developed to perfection under the expert supervision of Søren Christian Hansen.
The fruitful partnership between Arne Jacobsen and Fritz Hansen results in a long line of unique and revolutionary designs such as The 7 Chair, The Egg, The Swan and The Oxford Chair that all become part of a collection of furniture that receives immense international attention and enjoys widespread fame. In the late 1960s Fritz Hansen moves the entire production to facilities in Allerød north of Copenhagen, and the partnership with Arne Jacobsen continues until his death in 1971. Concurrently, Fritz Hansen expands the collection with models from leading designers such as architect Henning Larsen, the enfant terrible of Danish design Verner Panton, and, not least, poet/architect Piet Hein and Bruno Mathsson whose Superellipse table quickly becomes a classic.
In 1979 Fritz Hansen is acquired by Skandinavisk Holding. This ends 107 years of family ownership, but it is a natural continuation of the company’s desire to expand internationally.
During the 1980s and 90s several international design forces such as German Burkhard Vogtherr and Italian Vigo Magistretti work with Fritz Hansen to augment the extensive collection of furniture. The collection is further extended when Fritz Hansen takes over production of the outstanding line of furniture by Danish designer Poul Kjærholm from the manufacturer E. Kold Christensen in 1982.
Today The Republic of Fritz Hansen is part of a small, exclusive array of luxury brands, and it fits in comfortably between other style icons such as Prada and Louis Vuitton. From The Museum of Modern Art and The Guggenheim Museum in New York to the Japanese embassy in Mongolia and the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi near the Arctic Circle, Fritz Hansen models stand as representatives of quality and world-class design.
The legacy from Arne Jacobsen, Poul Kjærholm and Piet Hein is carried forward by talented designers such as Kasper Salto, Morten Voss and international stars like Italian Piero Lissoni and German Jehs+Laub. Also, several of the many classic Fritz Hansen models are revitalised these years through exciting projects with partners such as the Paul Smith fashion house and the award-winning Dutch designer Tord Boontje. Fritz Hansen currently employs a highly skilled staff of more than 200 people at the company headquarters in Allerød, and the collection is distributed via exclusive showrooms in Tokyo, London, Stockholm, Oslo, New York, Amsterdam and Milan as well as a global network of dedicated partners.
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| [Fritz Hansen, Stelton] |
Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) was trained as a bricklayer and graduated from The Technical Society's school in 1924 and Copenhagen Art Academy 1927. In 1928 he received the Academy's gold medal, but prior to this, when only 23, he was awarded a silver medal at the 1925 Paris World Exhibition - the first of numerous honours that became a natural accompaniment to his artistic activities, his untiring search and his brilliant conceptions, made manifest by many successes in competitions at home and abroad.
His main works include: town halls in Århus, Søllerød, Rødovre and Glostrup, SAS-building (Roy[... mehr]
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