Hans J. Wegner & The Wishbone Chair
Hans J. Wegner, the renown furniture designer, is considered to be the “master of the chair” for his innovation in modern Danish design. Not only did he appreciate the aesthetics and style of design, but he was a man of practicality and functionality. This understanding stemmed from his childhood and his education. Hans J. Wegner was born in Southern Denmark in the year 1914. It was here that he began work under the well-known cabinet maker, H. F. Stahlberg at the age of fourteen. Not long after, Wegner attended the School of Arts and Crafts for two years. His knowledge and extensive experience at a young age set him up for an exciting career in design.
In the year 1949, Wegner designed his first chair for Carl Hansen & Son, having opened a design office six years prior. It was this chair that would launch his considerable career in furniture design. The following year, Hans create the “Wishbone” chair, also known as CH24. The chair was revolutionary in its design combining simple, yet graceful aesthetics and practicality. The chair’s success was so notable that it has been in production ever since its release. What gave the design such ingenuity was the bend of the top and back of the chair, created by, “combining the top rails and arms into a single piece” (Hansen). With impressive style and delicate form, the chair brought the usability and comfort that Wegner had studied for so many years along with a visual design unlike anything before it.
In researching an influential designer, Wegner came to mind because of a project I did during my junior year of high school. The assignment, for my Popular Culture & Society class, was to pick an ordinary item in our home and to find the story behind it. The item I picked was our living room chairs which resembled the CH24 chair’s distinctive shape and overall design. When asking my parents why they purchased them, both stated that there was a sleek quality to the piece and that it added something, “fun and comfortable” to the house. The chairs, which they have owned since my childhood, “have a sense of character and a rustic quality that can’t be found anywhere else in the house,” yet they are still timeless and fit the environment of our more updated living room.
What made Wegner so successful was his understanding that, “a chair is a piece of furniture in close contact with the human body, a fact that places high demands on comfort and ergonomics” (Fredericia). His ability to create beautiful and sculptural designs that were created for the purpose of comfort and practicality made his work exceptional. With these qualities, it was clear that Wegner was advanced in his practice of user-centered design.
Hans J. Wegner practiced User-Centered Design throughout his career leading him to create over 500 chair designs. What made his Wishbone chair so successful was Wegner’s understanding of comfort and practicality to design for the user’s needs. Not only this, but he created a piece that would remain beautiful and modern for the rest of time; Therefore, even after his death in 2007, the Wishbone chair, and his design, will carry on his innovation and application of User-Centered Design for years to come.
