SCANDINAVIAN DESIGN CHAIRS ½

Scandinavia dominated the world of design from the 1930s to the 1970s – before declining with the gradual demise of the pioneers, and then reborn in a spectacular way over the past fifteen years.

Perhaps it is in the area of chairs that Scandinavia has left its deepest imprint. As industrialization arrived there late, traditional craftsmanship, and in particular woodworking, had remained alive when design took off: this explains why the coldness of industrial processes never took precedence over the warmth of the natural materials.

Our Design Chairs Collection present all the Scandinavian design classics, from which many timeless, world-famous icons – from the molded wood veneer chairs by Alvar Aalto and Arne Jacobsen to the organic delicacies of Finn Juhl and the perfectly ergonomic wooden chairs by Hans Wegner and the sometimes iconoclastic innovations of Verner Panton.

In the path of these giants are found a number of mid-century designer artists, sometimes a bit forgotten, but also a plethora of young contemporary talents who have the intelligence to update the heritage (in particular within the collections from Hay, Gubi, Muuto, & Tradition, etc.)

But design is also a global affair and it seemed essential to us to add to this Scandinavian collection some important names, all inspired by it, from other countries: the brilliant American couple Charles & Ray Eames, for example, edited by the Swiss Vitra, the Englishman Norman Cherner, the Austrian Michael Thonet, the Dutch Marcel Wanders, etc.