The Danish architect and modernist Finn Juhl would have turned 100 in 2012. Thus, he was celebrated with special exhibitions all over the world throughout 2012.

On this year’s furniture fair in Stockholm, Onecollection follows up on the celebration of Finn Juhl, with an unique exhibition of his organic furniture and lamps from the 1940’s and 50’s.  The exhibition, showing a modern home, is arranged in collaboration with designer Rigetta Klint.

Onecollection has since 2001 relaunched Finn Juhl’s artistic universe of furniture and is today able to present more than 25 unique models from the period 1940-1965.

Finn Juhl was always inspired by what was close to his heart – art. Thus, the vocabulary of Finn Juhl’s furniture was greatly opposed to the trend of that time, led by gurus like Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Kaare Klint in Denmark, where functionalism was more important than form and figure. Cubism and surrealism were the dominating movements in modern art of the 1930’s and 1940’s. Both directions based on the human body. Finn Juhl did the same. He said: ”First the body – then the furniture”.

Finn Juhl was the first modern furniture designer with an artistic approach to furniture design. No other designer has created furniture or masterpieces like Finn Juhl did it in his golden years: the 1940’s with furniture like the Pelican chair, the Poet, the 45 chair and the   Chieftain chair. However, Finn Juhl was much more than these world-famous icons.

You can experience it all on the fair in Stockholm, where we present the furniture in the hottest colours and materials of the time, being part of a modern home design.

Download high-definition pictures and information here:

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Apart from Finn Juhl, we present a new chair, TIME, designed by the Danish designer Henrik Tengler, who also created the successful ”Chairman chair”. ”TIME” is cosmopolitan functionalism – a dynamic conference chair with an international vocabulary.

We further present a super elegant stool, WARNING, by Norwegian Linn Anna Bjørk, as well as a minimalistic and simple rack, ONECASE, by Danish Søren Ulrik Petersen.

Onecollection was founded in 1990 by Ivan Hansen and Henrik Sørensen, under the name Hansen & Sørensen. The two founders still own the company, which today is one of the most advanced players in the Danish industry of design furniture. Onecollection is currently working on a comprehensive furniture assignment in one of the permanent council halls in the UN headquarters in New York.

This hall was fitted by Finn Juhl in 1950. Thus, Onecollection is recreating the original Finn Juhl chairs for the delegates. The company is further fitting the hall with new customized tables, as well as new chairs, designed by designers Kasper Salto and Thomas Sigsgaard. Pictures from the project are displayed on screen on the fair in Stockholm.

For further information, please contact Henrik Sørensen, Tel.: +45 20222103

og nyeste skumsprøjt er det nyåbnede House of Finn Juhl Copenhagen

Sådan skriver Julie Vöge blandt andet i Berlingskes Boligtillæg søndag den 3. juni 2012 og fortsætter:

Møbelarkitekten Finn Juhl, der huserede i 1940’erne, sælger her i 2012 som aldrig før.  Hans design glider fint ind i vores lyse nordiske indretning, hvor retro og natur er to kodeord for tiden. For nylig åbnede House of Finn Juhl på Nordre Toldbod i København, som er et showroom og en konceptbutik dedikeret til designerens møbler – både nyproducerede og vintage.

House of Finn Juhl København

Both residents and tourists will now have the opportunity to experience Finn Juhl’s furniture universe as a whole in Copenhagen. This is possible because the Ringkøbing company Onecollection in cooperation with Galleri Feldt open the showroom House of Finn Juhl Copenhagen at Nordre Toldbod – just before the Gefion Fountain and with a view to the Opera house on the island of Holmen.

Galleri Feldt, which is owned and managed by Louise Feldt and Martin Arno Mathiesen, has been exhibiting modern furniture art for 10 years at this location and selling used furniture classics with all the patina and history the furniture has been able to preserve. Recently, the gallery has had a special focus on the works of Finn Juhl, Hans J. Wegner and Poul Kjærholm.

“Our customers come from all over the world and they consider the old vintage furniture to be as much art as household furniture”, clarifies Martin Arno Mathiesen.

Both Louise Feldt and he share a passion for furniture art from the period 1950s – 1970s. Original vintage furniture in good condition is not seen every day, but this has not discouraged Galleri Feldt to make it consider introducing new furniture – that is to say, apart from Finn Juhl’s furniture.

“In general, our customers are not interested in new furniture or, for that matter, in modern manufacturers as compared to old. They are looking for something original and a story deeply rooted in the wear and patina of the furniture.

However, we decided very quickly to make an exception and contact Onecollection that were happy to allow us to exhibit a simple Poet sofa and an accompanying Eye Table. We made this decision because we have found in Onecollection’s furniture a lot of the passion we worship in old master carpenters. They hae a detail orientated selection which suits us perfectly.

We were not sure how our customers would react, so this was an experiment. It was successful and many customers were able to see the same connection between the new and the old in Finn Juhl’s furniture. Yes, we have sold new Finn Juhl furniture to our most fervent vintage customers,” says Martin Arno Mathiesen.
Onecollection, owned by founders Ivan Hansen and Henrik Sørensen, has been manufacturing and marketing Finn Juhl’s furniture ever since 1999 after they acquired the exclusive rights from Finn Juhl’s widow Hanne Wilhelm Hansen. In addition to Finn Juhl’s masterpieces, the company makes design furniture created by several Nordic designers.

“House of Finn Juhl” is a new way of managing a showroom. The furniture is visible, available and welcoming in a beautiful setting and we have room to tell the story in a way that helps people understand the context. The collaboration with Galleri Feldt means that everyone can visit a living showroom with super competent staff throughout the week”, says Ivan Hansen.

A Sensory Showroom
A pure and relaxed atmosphere has been chosen for “House of Finn Juhl” with the master’s furniture – a white, minimalist expression that makes it possible to feel the furniture.

“To Finn Juhl ”feeling” was very important. His furniture is sensory and has to be felt,” explains Ivan Hansen.

“We will be happy to display Finn Juhl’s furniture in a framework where only the furniture is in focus. At the same time we would like to create an atmosphere that resembles the atmosphere in his own house. This is why we have tapestry and carefully chosen decoration that capture the spirit of the time. We do not have pictures on the walls: they seem to be more confusing than beneficial. It is the furniture that is in focus here”, explains Martin Arno Mathiesen.

“Finn Juhl’s house in Charlottenlund is a ”must-see” for design tourists. We hope that the House of Finn Juhl in Nordre Toldbod will become one too. The area here is new and trendy and many people have not heard of it yet. The back wall of the showroom neighbours upon the Kastellet fortification, and the Churchill Park, which is within easy reach from the showroom. The Gefion Fountain and the Little Mermaid are also nearby, and the building itself is an 18th century dock worker building. A lot of culture and history meet here”, says Ivan Hansen.

The opening of the House of Finn Juhl will be celebrated with a reception for invited guests on 24 May from 3 pm to 8 pm.

For more information and pictures:

Galleri Feldt, telephone: 33 91 11 00
Ivan Hansen, Onecollection, telephone: 70 27 71 01.

Caption:

In the House of Finn Juhl Copenhagen, which opens at Nordre Toldbod on 24 May you will find sensory furniture in focus in Finn Juhl’s complete universe.

Eye Table was designed in 1946 for the 46 Sofa. At that time Finn Juhl was very much inspired by modern art especially by Picasso, Henry More.

The eye-shaped sofa table has a blank desktop and is as usual plenty of details.

The sofa table is either in teak or walnut with a desktop in high lustre.

Design: Finn Juhl, 1948

Inspired by ”free art”, Finn Juhl designed Poeten for his own home in 1941. Today this sofa represents a part of Danish cultural history and modern furniture that exudes values that have more or less disappeared in these days of fleeting fancies.

Art dictated Finn Juhl’s designs. He also used his artistic sensibilities to use his design as a reflection on his own times. It was Finn Juhl’s ambition to create furniture with a personality that reflected both functionality and aesthetics.

It has been said about Finn Juhl, that he thought a piece of furniture should be seen as an individual piece of art and not just as part of the overall interior design. Furniture should reflect the personality and originality of the artist, and at the same time be a practical piece of functional art – rather than a sculpture.

It was the human freedom as reflected in surrealism and cubism that inspired Finn Juhl.

Particularly Jean Arp’s portrayal of the human torso and Barbara Hepworth’s modernist sculptures.

Rather than thinking in terms of practical construction, Finn Juhl had the mindset of a sculptor, when he shaped a piece of furniture. In the 1940s and 1950s, this way of working had never been seen before. His ambition was to design furniture with movement and life.

Poeten is made to the finest manufacturing standards with hand-sewn upholstery, and its legs come in several different types of wood.

Design: Finn Juhl, 1941

The Pelican Chair is clearly a result of Finn Juhl’s inspiration from artistic interpretations of the human body – particularly in surrealism and cubism.

Thanks to its organic shape, the Pelican has almost got a human character and therefore become a body in itself. In the Pelican Chair, one human body can find shelter in another. Although initially dismissed as “walrus-like” by his contemporaries, this chair later became an iconic example of his design.

It was obvious to Finn Juhl, that furniture needed an artistic sensibility, in order to be both exciting as well as at peace with the surroundings.

Typical of Finn Juhl, the Pelikan is very comfortable and manufactured according to best craftsmanship traditions with hand-sewn upholstery. The legs come in several types of wood.

Finn Juhl also pointed out that furniture is a practical necessity, and therefore should not be created as visual objects but seen as –and used as – applied art, as he explained in 1965.

Finn Juhl was the modern furniture designer, who created artistic access to furniture design. This made him famous in Denmark and abroad.

After his death, he inspired new generations all over the world.

Design: Finn Juhl, 1940

Finn Juhl was a pioneer in Danish design. In 1945 he designed this fantastic armchair, which was one of the first to break with tradition by freeing the seat and back from the frame.

The “45”-chair has become the classic symbol of Juhl’s design.

Uncluttered, light and elegant, combined in lively motion, seemed to be the secret to his art. The air between the frame and the seat of the chair created a lightness that reflected beauty and floating grace. In this way, the chair created pleasure both when looking at it, as well as in its practical use.

The result was an easy, elegant and tantalising expression that came to characterise Finn Juhl and make him world famous as an unrivalled designer.

Model 45 is an example of high quality craftsmanship with carefully selected wood and upholstered with leather or fabric.

Design: Finn Juhl 1945

Finn Juhl was preoccupied with shapes and colours during all of his life because of his great interest in cubist and surrealistic art. Finn Juhl was a pioneer with regard to including colour as an active element in space, furniture and textiles. This he did with a rare confidence so that his arrangements appear with great sensuality as a coherent whole – “Gesamtkunstwerk”.

The Sideboard with coloured sliding doors and trays was designed by Finn Juhl for BOVIRKE in 1955. It is part of a theme with cubist wood cabinets that float on delicate steel frames with wood “feet” and in particular the colours which Finn Juhl arranged throughout the 1950s and 60s. The colour elements reflected his fascination with Goethe’s famous colour circle, which placed the colours in a harmonious cohesion. Finn Juhl’s own house at Ordrupgaard in Copenhagen is a bright example of his use of colours.

The FJ Sideboard, now relaunched by ONECOLLECTION, is available in walnut, teak, oak and Oregon pine, and in a yellow / red range of colours and a blue range of colours. The frame is in hand-burnished steel.

Design: Finn Juhl, 1955

In 1963, Finn Juhl designed a series of lamps for the Danish lamp company LYFA. The company was originally named “Københavns Lampe- og Lysekronefabrik” (Copenhagen Lamp and Chandelier Factory), but changed the name to LYFA in 1930. From the 1950s onward, LYFA hired designers to design lamps in modern shapes and was later honoured with several design awards. Finn Juhl is among the most famous designers. The FJ Lamp series was only in production for seven years and is nowadays both rare and coveted as second-hand models.

FJ Lamps are designed by Finn Juhl’s design criterion on movement. The outer shade can move freely in the solid inner shade and direct the light where you need it. Finn Juhl also worked in this way with his furniture, allowing for great freedom of movement. He said: “Furniture should be like beds — you need to be able to move in them.”

FJ Lamps that are made of painted metal are now back in production at ONECOLLECTION in original design for a colour combination of two shades of gray.

Design: Finn Juhl, 1963

skriver Kim Flyvbjerg i tillægget ”fri”, 4. februar 2012, blandt andet om Finn Juhl:

Feinschmecker-Finn fylder 100 – Finn Juhl var luksusdyret i dansk design, der var til funktionalisme på den lækre, luksuriøse måde. Han var til mahogni og skind frem for fyrretræ og hessian. Finn Juhl skabte gennem 1940’erne og 1950’erne den ene triumf efter den anden, klassikere som Poeten sofaen, Pelikan stolen og ikke mindst Høvdingestolen – ligesom Finn Juhl blev ophavsmand til begrebet ”Danish Modern” i udlandet.

FRI