EXTRAORDINARY DESIGN

''Good design should be problem-solving and long-lasting; this goes without saying. But I also make designs for people, to be used by people. I believe that good design should provoke feelings. Design should make you feel comfortable. And design should generate happiness.''

In the post-war era, Fritz Hansen shaped the Danish design tradition in collaboration with influential designers.

Beginning in 1945 and throughout the following two decades, Danish design went from essentially unknown to world famous. After the horrors of war, people had begun to associate industrial, machine-made production processes with the development of killing machines and craved a more romantic approach to design.

In the 1920s and 30s, it was quite the opposite. Danish designers struggled to compete. Their counterparts in Germany and the Netherlands had been quick to embrace industrial production, and their mass-produced designs gained widespread success.

The 1930s marked an era of great innovation for Fritz Hansen. In the early years of the new decade, Christian E. Hansen’s two eldest sons took over the company’s reins, bringing with them an impressive string of credentials and international experience.

As the hardship of the First World War faded, the brothers began to look beyond Denmark’s borders for fresh inspiration and talent. They experimented with production methods, and made ground-breaking advancements within steam-bent and laminated wood, as well as steel. These innovations would then go on to pave the way to some of Fritz Hansen’s most revolutionary collaborations with Danish and international designers, such as Frits Schlegel, Kaare Klint and Flemming & Mogens Lassen.

Futuristic, colourful, and fun: Danish designer Verner Panton’s work is well-known today for its unique style. Fritz Hansen proved to be a similar kind of visionary, as one of the first to recognise Panton’s designs as both innovative and commercial. The company began working with him as early as 1956.

In the early 1950s, Panton assisted Arne Jacobsen and was instrumental in the design of the ultra-successful Ant Chair. In 1955, Panton was commissioned by Fritz Hansen to create two chairs: The Bachelor and The Tivoli. It was the start, as they say, of a beautiful friendship.

Panton’s Bachelor chair could be taken apart, making it easy to transport. It came with or without armrests, and with optional cushions. In addition, he created the (un-officially named) Tivoli Chair, a discrete and stackable multi-use chair. Both the Bachelor Chair and Tivoli Chair were popular with the younger generation; we’ll take that to mean the collaboration was on the right track.