Denmark is famous for contemporary design and innovation, from food to silverware to furniture. This small northern European country with a population of just over five and a half million inhabitants has eleven Michelin starred restaurants, among them Noma which has two. Denmark’s world famous Georg Jensen is Scandinavia’s only real Luxury Lifestyle Brand and the silverware designs attributed to his name continue to make waves around the world to this day.
When it comes to contemporary furniture, Denmark – and specifically Copenhagen – is in a class of its own. The Danes are past masters at designing furniture for both home and office and it is generally made from teak, as this wood has many amazing properties. The teak tree (Tectona, of the birch family) is a hardwood which grows in sub-tropical climes and is imported into Denmark mostly for the production of furniture. The tree grows to great heights and its timber has lovely golden to brown shadings. Teak wood is pliable and insect and water resistant and it is thus eminently suitable for furniture making; and for creating the flowing lines synonymous with this style of furniture.
Contemporary Danish designed furniture displays clean and unfussy lines and is often matched with leather, which makes it the ideal interior décor choice for both office and home. It is for this the reason that Danish furniture is exported to every corner of the world and, in most large cities, one need not search too long before a store is found which offers the best of Danish furniture design. Clearly, when one is in Copenhagen, the beautifully designed classic chairs, tables and office furniture are on view in the many furniture stores around the city; and most of these furniture stores will be happy to arrange shipment of your chosen piece to your home.
Among Denmark’s finest furniture designers of the 20th century are Arne Jacobsen, Børge Mogensen, Finn Juhl, Kaare Klint, Hans Wegner and Ole Wanscher. These design geniuses all brought their classic designs to the world’s attention in the 50 year period from 1925 to 1975 when they collaborated with architects and, during the production period, with the actual craftsmen who made the furniture. The use of leather and wood and leather and steel was a revolutionary concept which changed the face of contemporary furniture and brought Danish furniture design to the pinnacle of interior design.
Danish designed furniture for the office is one of a kind, as by using the best craftsmanship and materials available, combined with outstanding design and functionality, space can be saved while still furnishing one’s office in the most stylish of manners. One of the great masters of Danish furniture design, Kaare Klint, a professor at the at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, decided that each and every piece of furniture designed should be fit for purpose, its construction should have clarity, it should fit the size of the human body and be comfortable and that only the finest components should be used.
These strict design rules still reign today and anyone lucky enough to own a piece of contemporary Danish furniture will attest to the fact.
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