With a form that is uniquely its own, the iconic CH24 Wishbone Chair by Hans J. Wegner holds a special place in the world of modern design. When designing the CH24, Wegner chose to combine the back- and armrest into a single piece. To give stability to the steam-bent top and ensure comfortable support, Wegner developed the characteristic Y-shaped back that the Wishbone Chair is named after. More than 100 steps are required to manufacture each Wishbone Chair, most of which are carried out by hand. The hand-woven seat alone takes a skilled craftsman about an hour to create, using approximately 120 meters of paper cord, the impressive durability and stability of which makes the chair both strong and long-lasting. The Wishbone Chair offers comfort and stability as well as satisfying aesthetic desires for distinctive, elegant form. Over time, the Wishbone Chair has gained recognition as the ideal chair, capturing the essence of modern Danish design.
55W x 51D x 76H cm
45cm seat height
Frame: oak, beech, ash or walnut
Papercord: natural, black
Visit us in store to view timber samples.
Son of a shoe-maker in southern Jutland, Hans Wegner, finished his formal training as a cabinetmaker with master cabinetmaker Stahlberg in 1930 before starting at Teknologisk Institut in Copenhagen. He soon moved to the School of Arts and Crafts in the Danish capital where he became architect in 1938, and started teaching in 1946.
In 1940 he joined Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller in Arhus, to design the furniture for the new Arhus city hall. He started to work with 'minister' cabinetmaker Johannes Hansen in 1940 and showed his first furniture in the famous Hansen store on Bredgade 65 in 1941. Johannes Hansen was more than twice as old as the 26 year old Wegner but the unique collaboration between the two became the undisputed backbone of Danish furniture design and the main reason for it's world wide recognition in the fifties and sixties. The Copenhagen Museum of Art and Industry acquired the first Wegner chair in 1942.
In 1943 he started his own design office and 1 year later designed the first of a long series of 'chinese' chairs inspired by portraits of Danish merchants sitting in Ming chairs for Fritz Hansen. In 1950 Wegner designed the “Wishbone Chair” produced by Carl Hansen & Søn in Odense which became the most successful of all Wegner chairs. Most well known for it’s use by Kennedy and Nixon in their famous CBS TV debate of 1960.
Inspiration
