Authentic icons of Scandinavian design, the Egg and Swan Lounge chairs were designed in 1958 by Arne Jacobsen for the lobby and reception areas of Copenhagen's Royal Hotel.Â
The commission, which included the design of the building and all interior fittings, was an exceptional opportunity for Arne Jacobsen to apply his innovative theories on the art of inhabiting space.Â
The Egg and Swan perfectly embody his ideal of "total design", with their rounded shapes contrasting with the taut, horizontal and vertical lines of the hotel itself.Â
The Egg and Swan are the fruit of an innovative technique that Jacobsen was the first to use: a very hard foam serves as the skeleton of the shell, which is then padded and covered with fabric or leather.
Like a sculptor, Arne Jacobsen spent many hours in the garage workshop of his home in Klampenborg, north of Copenhagen, perfecting various prototypes to find the perfect curves.Â
For the Egg, his ambition was to create an armchair inside which a sphere of intimacy could be created, even if the person sitting in it was in a noisy hotel lobby. With or without footrest, the Egg is the epitome of the lounge chair, equally at home in private or public spaces.
Swan W74 x D68 x H77 or H85 cm – Seat height 40 ou 48 cm
Egg W86 x D79 x H107 cm – Seat height 37 cmÂ
Footstool W56 x D40 x H37 cm
Base The aluminum base swivels horizontally and vertically. The automatic return option allows the chair to return to its original position on its own.
Warranty Fritz Hansen offers a 20-year warranty after registering your furniture on fritzhansen.com
Swan
from
Egg
from
Ottoman
Warranty
ALUMINIUM
Base colors
Free samples (against deposit)
Examples:
Christianshavn 1154Â (price group 0)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Re-Wool 0868 (price group 2)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Christianshavn 1110 (price group 0)
/ Warm Graphite
Hallingdal 674 (price group 2)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Divina 623 (price group 2)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Divina Melange 120 (price group 2)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Christianshavn 1133 (price group 0)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Hallingdal 130 (price group 2)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Black Essential leather (price group 3)
/ Black
Christianshavn 1175 (price group 0)
/ Silver Grey
Hazelnut Grace leather (price group 5)
/ Brown Bronze
Hazelnut Grace leather (price group 5)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Natural leather
(price group 5)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Dark brown Grace leather
(price group 5)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Black Essential leather (price group 3)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Rustik leather (price group 5)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
Concrete Embrace leather (price group 5)
/ Satin-polished aluminum
The Swan chair is available in two seat heights: 40 and 48 cm.
Arne Jacobsen is born on February 11, 1902 in Copenhagen. His father, Johan Jacobsen, is a wholesale trader in safety pins and snap fasteners. His mother, Pouline Jacobsen, a bank clerk, paints floral motifs in her spare time. The family lived in a typical Victorian style home. As a contrast to his parents’ overly decorated taste, Arne paints his room in white.
Background & school relations
He met the Lassen brothers at Nærum Boarding School: later, Flemming Lassen was to become his partner in a series of architectural projects. Arne Jacobsen is a restless pupil, always up to pranks, with a self-deprecating humour. Already as a child, he showed an extraordinary talent for drawing and depicting nature through scrupulous studies. He wants to be painter, but his father felt that architect was a more sensible choice.
The Pleasant and the necessary trips abroad
Jacobsen’s travelling begin already in his twenties, when he went to sea to New York. Then followed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer in Germany and a series of study and drawing excursions to Italy. Jacobsen produced some of his finest watercolours during this period, capturing atmospheres and shapes accurately and carefully. From the beginning of his career, Jacobsen turned his gaze abroad, without abandoning Danish traditions.
Arne Jacobsen behind the design
Jacobsen production reflects his personality: an insistent, perfectionist modernist, to whom no detail was trivial, although the main picture was basically black/white and unambiguous. On the other hand, the nature-loving botanist and jovial family man: like him, his work is precise and warm, Danish and universal, modern and timeless.
