House of Finn Juhl at Danish Red
A master of Danish Modern furniture and design, Finn Juhl’s innovative and meticulously crafted work can be explored in Australia through Scandinavian furniture specialist Danish Red.
In the pantheon of Danish furniture designers, Finn Juhl remains as revered today as when he was crafting his unique brand of exquisitely sculptural furniture at the height of Danish Modern in the 1940s and ’50s. With art as his main source of inspiration, Finn Juhl’s work embodies the innovation, craftsmanship and enduring appeal of Mid-century Danish design. In Australia, his furniture, including the famed Pelican Chair, is available exclusively at Danish Red.
Finn Juhl’s story begins nine decades ago. While art history was his first love, in 1930 he enrolled in an architecture degree at Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Architecture at the insistence of his father but never completed his studies. Rather than thinking in terms of practical construction, Finn had the mindset of a sculptor.
He showed his first piece of furniture, the Grasshopper Chair, at the 1938 Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition, an important testing ground for young Danish designers. It wasn’t an auspicious start, with critics and the public considering its form too radical. To ensure his collaborator, master joiner Niels Vodder – with whom he worked for more than two decades – wasn’t left out of pocket, Finn bought the two Grasshopper prototypes himself. In 2018, one of those original chairs sold at auction in Paris for €319,000 (about $500,000). When the Pelican Chair was presented at the exhibition two years later, it stood out due to its unusual animalistic shape and sturdy legs. Even though it become instantly famous, the Pelican was not put into production for another six decades. The characteristic soft and organic shape is almost like a body holding a body: when you sit down in it, the chair practically gives you a hug.
With their soft modernist lines and sculptural presence, the Grasshopper and Pelican presaged what was to come from Finn Juhl over the next two decades: furniture with organic and natural forms, created with the human body in mind and always with unexpected shapes, aesthetics and design details. This is a legacy that the House of Finn Juhl, which has been entrusted with the exclusive rights to manufacture and relaunch Finn Juhl’s work since 2001, takes very seriously.
The company, founded by Danish furniture makers Ivan Hansen and Hans Henrik Sørensen, now creates more than 50 Finn Juhl masterpieces, honouring the craftsmanship and dedication to quality that were his hallmarks. “Our skilled and experienced craftspeople are committed to upholding the rich tradition of fine woodworking, ensuring that every piece we produce is a testament to the artistry that goes into its creation,” says Ivan.
For the House of Finn Juhl, it’s crucial that the details be as fine and pure as if the piece came from a Mid-century cabinetmakers’ workshop. Equally important as quality is durability, ensuring that the pieces can be enjoyed now and by generations to come.
That meticulous process is evidenced in the 2022 relaunch of a cutting-edge Finn Juhl design: the Whisky Chair. Originally shown at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild Exhibition in 1948, the chair was never put into production: House of Finn Juhl relaunched the ‘playfully provocative’ piece in American walnut, upholstered by hand in leather or fabric, with the armrest featuring a trademark brass tray with a hole shaped to hold a whiskey glass. “To us, it’s simply extraordinary that Finn Juhl designed a chair which incorporates a glass of whisky in this manner… it tells you all you need to know about him,” says Hans.
Other highlights of the collection include the Surrealist-inspired Poet Sofa (1941), the multi-hued Glove Cabinet that Finn designed for his wife, the Nyhavn Desk and the majestic Chieftain Chair (1949). In Australia, the entire House of Finn Juhl range, comprising dining tables, side tables, lounge seating and footstools, dining chairs, coffee tables, benches, a sideboard and floor rugs, can be found exclusively at Danish Red.
