Little Giraffe Chair – Arne Jacobsen, 1960 🇩🇰 Fritz Hansen

The Little Giraffe chair was designed in 1959 for the SAS Royal Hotel restaurant - the same hotel for which Arne Jacobsen designed the Egg, the Swan and several other famous models. The Giraffe had a high back – origin of its nickname – and a wooden base. Then Arne Jacobsen made several experiments, creating a special leather version on a pivoting star base that he offered to the hotel manager and a low-back version with a metal base, the Little Giraffe.

Although conceived in 1959, this Little Giraffe had never been put into production until Republic of Fritz Hansen decided to publish it in 2018. Versatile and comfortable, the Little Giraffe can be used daily in hotel lobbies, dining rooms or meeting rooms. Whatever the space around it, the Little Giraffe tells us the story of mid-20th century Danish design, with its design excellence and timeless style that fits perfectly with any style of environment.

Dimensions W64 x D62 x H89 cm – Seat height 46 cm
Base chrome or black powder coated
Removable upholstery The Little Giraffe is available with a fixed or removable cover, allowing it to be cleaned or even changed. In both cases, the chair is upholstered without glue, using a double seam that highlights beautifully its silhouette. The seamless seat cushion offers great comfort while maintaining a look faithful to the original Giraffe. Note that leather chairs are not available in a removable version.

Warranty 5 years

Fixed cover (3201)
from

Removable cover (3201R)
from

▸ Fabrics & Leathers

Examples:

Christianshavn 1132 (price group 0) / chrome

Christianshavn 1121 (price group 0) / black

Christianshavn 1110 (price group 0) / chrome

Capture 5901 (price group 1) / black

Capture 6001 (price group 1) / chrome

Christianshavn 1150 (price group 0) / black

Christianshavn 1150 (price group 0) / chrome

Christianshavn 1174 (price group 0) / chrome

Cuir Grace Walnut (price group 5) / black

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.

Little Giraffe

Arne Jacobsen, 1959/2018