Peter’s Chair was created by Hans J. Wegner during World War II. Finding quality products in wartime Europe was not easy, so when Wegner needed a suitable christening gift for Peter, the son of his friend and fellow furniture designer Børge Mogensen, he took matters into his own hands and crafted the gift himself. An accomplished cabinetmaker, Wegner conceived and built a simple yet ingenious chair that would work as both a functional piece of furniture and an engaging toy. Designed as a life-size three-dimensional puzzle in untreated beech, the chair is easily assembled without the use of tools – to the great excitement of children and adults alike. Peter’s Chair combines perfectly with Peter’s Table. Together, these furniture pieces reveal the extent of Wegner’s innovative spirit as well as his superior ability to fulfill the natural interest of children without compromising on design and quality.
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
Hee Welling x HAY Designer talks. In conversation with Hee Welling
Hee Welling x HAY Designer talks. In conversation with Hee Welling
Hee Welling x HAY Designer talks. In conversation with Hee Welling
Hee Welling x HAY Designer talks. In conversation with Hee Welling
