When Furniture Was Invented – A new book describes how Danish craftsmen’s ‘craftsmanship is king’ helped cultural affinity win America over during the Cold War.
“The concept of Danish design was consciously developed with a clear marketing narrative” – an advertisement for American company Lane’s Copenhagen furniture series.
When Furniture Was Invented
Danish Design and Danish Modern is this short and engaging book that helped shape American design culture and taste in the 1950s. The history of two chairs designed in 1949; their origins; How to do it in Denmark and especially US markets: Finn Juhl’s Chieftain Chair and Hans Wegner’s the Chair (originally called the Round Chair).
Herman Miller Eames Molded Plywood Dining Chair
Among the most recognized of Danish chairs, they have been described by Maggie Taft as “emissaries” for the strategic creation of the American export market for Danish furniture and homewares. This strategy not only helped shape Danish production for American consumers, but in the US itself. Danish Modern became a term applied to American-made furniture and product design.
Economic historian Per Hansen describes the concept of Danish design as “democratic; social and honest; Proposed to be clearly developed with a prominent marketing narrative of special concern for the environment and humanity. Need” The creators and drivers of this narrative are a coordinated network of Danish designers, manufacturers, their organizations and the Danish government.
Hansen’s research—a major contribution to design history without the unimaginable title under review—stands out. What began as a plan to revive and diversify the Danish economy in the 1930s by exporting to European markets was realized only in the late 1940s, when it turned its attention to the American market, he explains. in the
Hansen’s work was acknowledged (with some footnotes); She is Danish design; The American market played a major role in creating and transforming consumer response and copy.
Simon Re Invented Recliner By American Leather
Taft begins her book with the origin stories of her two protagonist chairs, set in a Copenhagen context where “craftsmanship is king” at the top end of the market. This influenced the idea among members of the Cabinetmakers Guild and some architects (rather than the Danish furniture trade). the export-minded Danish government; Along with the merchandising store Den Permanente and various trade organizations, they led the push into the US.
With the help of the post-war Marshall Plan, the Danish government made it important to avoid import duties on forests, particularly Thai timber, to provide subsidies for members of the Danish government constrained by domestic timber shortages. Taft highlights the background of the commercial relationship between Denmark and Thailand that began in 1858. Due to Danish subsidies, between 1952 and 1957, teak became the most common wood used in connection with Danish furniture exports to the United States.
Taft, in Chapter 2 (“Made in Denmark”), Taft organizes her chapters well into an engaging narrative, explaining how Juhl’s and Wegner’s chairs were refined in design and manufacturing techniques for export. (other furniture designs to be manufactured in the US). Between 1949 and 1960, most Danish factories had fewer than ten employees—too few to meet the demands of the US market, which consumed at least 50% of all Danish modern furniture production.
Chapter 3 (“Danish Design at Home”) deals with vendors promoting Danish design, including at exhibitions. Explores tastemakers and consumers. Particularly interesting is the enthusiasm expressed by American consumers in correspondence with Den Permanente. Edgar Kaufmann Jr. of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was an influential champion of Juhl and saw meaningful parallels between Danish and American design cultures. “Both were drawn to organic design … American design writers, especially Cold War veteran Elizabeth Gordon’s editor;
Aston Re Invented Recliner By American Leather
A great admirer of Danish modernism. For Gordon, Both cultures exemplified democracy, and Danish design was heavily enlisted in the anti-communist McCarthy era within the realm of the American home.
The book’s final chapter (“Mail Order Danish Modern”) covers the theft of Danish Modern furniture, with Wegner’s the Chair described as “the most stolen design in the world” at the time. Taft argues that the proliferation of copies helped grow the concept of the Danish Modern style and was important in popularizing it. Ironically, in 1968, when the US Federal Trade Commission banned the “misuse” of Danish words for furniture made outside of Denmark (other than “Danish style” or “Danish style”), copycats ultimately destroyed the export market. Furniture. These and other stories in Taft’s book are essential to understanding postwar Danish and American design.
Christopher Wilk Performance at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum; furniture, A conservator of textiles and fashion; Attempts have been made to follow the citation format rules, but there may be some discrepancies. If you have questions, refer to the appropriate style manual or other resources.
Erik Lassen, director; Museum of Decorative Arts Copenhagen, 1966-82. Author of Danish Furniture of the Classical Age and others.
Simon Re Invented Recliner
Edward J. Wormley Products and Interior Designer. former design director; Dunbar Furniture Corporation of Indiana; New York City.
Joseph T. Butler Senior Museum Director Emeritus; Historic Hudson Valley; Tarrytown, New York. American Antique 1800-1900 and another author.
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Furniture, household appliances; mostly wood metal plastic marble glass Made of fabrics or accessories and having a variety of different purposes. The furniture ranges widely from a simple pine chest or back chair to the most exquisitely crafted work desk or gilded console table. Both business and fashion have emphasized the functional and decorative aspects of furniture throughout history. Chairs are always for sitting, but some are more comfortable or highly decorated than others. Appliances include clocks, Mirrors tapes, stoves, Small sub-items such as panels and other items that fit the interior layout.
Not Your Father’s Recliner
It means movable. Continental terms express the personality of the furniture better than the English word. to be furnished Must be movable. Furniture anticipates residential existence to some degree. It is understandable that independent types of furniture do not seem to have been developed among the Melanesians or the Inuit in Greenland or the Mongolian nomads in Asia.
In general, furniture produced in the past 5,000 years has not been innovative in any industrial sense. The Egyptian folding chair, which dates back to about 1500 BC, fulfills the same functional requirements and possesses the same basic features as a modern one. From the middle of the 20th century onwards, a radical revision of the concept of furniture emerged, only with new materials such as plastic and completely creative techniques such as casting.
Wood is the most used material for making furniture. There are over a hundred types of wood that can be used for furniture, but some woods have better natural properties than others.
A relatively cheap item; The wood lends itself to a variety of treatments; for example, staining it; painting gilding, Can be glued. It can be shaped by hand or with power cutting and drilling tools. heated It can be bent to a certain extent into a predetermined shape, and it will retain the shape after that. The grain in the wood creates a texture that has a different character; This in itself provides a naturally decorative surface; Such patterns can be composed of pre-calculated combinations. The colors are white, yellow green red brown From gray to black to countless neutral tones. A very rich effect was achieved, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries, by combining wood of different colors. If kept under favorable conditions, wood is durable, and pieces of furniture from the oldest civilizations—for example, Egypt—are still in existence. Lastly, most woods have a sweet scent.
Torjin 3pc Counter Set
Over the past 200 years or so, advances in craftsmanship and industrial technology have made furniture production cheaper and faster. Scraping using wood as a base; By using techniques such as heating and gluing, new materials have been developed. to an increasing extent; Cabinet makers and furniture factories use veneer, carcass wood plywood Semi-manufactured wood such as laminated board and hardboard (fibreboard) are being used.
Veneer is a very thin layer of wood that is applied to produce a smooth and attractive surface. It is impossible to achieve this kind of surface using solid wood. Partly because of the cost. Partly because of its brittleness, In part because the grain is never shown;
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