User:Republicfurniture/Republic of Fritz Hansen

Republic of Fritz Hansen is home to some of the world’s biggest icons within furniture design and represents 137 years of furniture making. The company is coorperating with the biggest Danish and international furniture architects and is undeniably a part of the positive reputation associated with Danish Design that circulates both in Denmark and abroad [http://www.danish-furniture.com/designers/. ]. Among the most successful designers in Republic of Fritz Hansen is Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971), Poul Kjærholm (1929-1980), Hans J. Wegner (1914-2007), and Piet Hein (1905-1996). Fritz Hansen also collaborates with contemporary furniture architects including Hiromichi Konno, Cecilie Manz, and Kasper Salto. Fritz Hansen is founded and rooted in Denmark and is today represented with showrooms in 14 major cities around the world All products are manufactured at Fritz Hansen' s own facilities north of Copenhagen in Allerød and at sub-suppliers in Northern Europe.

History
Fritz Hansen is a company that dates back to 1872, where Fritz Hansen, a Danish carpenter, founded his own furniture company and in 1915 introduced his first chair in steam bent wood. Since the beginning of the 1930s, Fritz Hansen has adhered to a philosophy of manufacturing furniture of the highest quality in every respect, combining traditional craftsmanship and industrial production processes. In 1934, Fritz Hansen began his collaboration with Arne Jacobsen resulting in some of the famous, classic icons of Danish Design including the 'Ant (chair)' (1952), the 'Series 7' (1955), the 'Swan (chair)' (1958), and the 'Egg (chair)' (1958). Other famous collaborations have resulted in Piet Hein's super-elliptical table from 1968 and in 1982 Fritz Hansen acquired the rights to a major part of Poul Kjærholm's furniture collection. Since the 1980s continuing into the new millennium, Fritz Hansen has continually added new designs to the collection including the Essay table by Cecilie Manz, T-NO1 by Todd Bracher, RIN by Hiromichi Konno, Plano tables by Pelikan Design and the Ice series by Kasper Salto.

Fritz Hansen played an important role in the Danish Modern movement, which flourished between the 1940s and 1960s. Danish Modern emphasized the unique qualities of Danish furniture as good, honest, functional, and democratic pieces developed in cooperation between traditional cabinetmakers and modern architects. It was a successful story that in particular gained ground in the US from the late 1940s where Danish Design gained a phenomenal and highly exclusive reputation. .

In 1998, Fritz Hansen began redefining its identity and through a corporate branding strategy an independent republic was born that became an umbrella for the individual design furniture. The brand was renamed Republic of Fritz Hansen. The creation of a Republic is an invitation to people around the world to join the affection and dedication to design that is original, pure, sculptural and timeless design enabling every individual to make their unique statements.

Arne Jacobsen
Arne Emil Jacobsen (11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and designer, exemplar of the 'Danish Modern' style. Jacobsen was a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He was granted his professional qualification in 1927. In addition to his architectural work he created a number of highly original chairs and other furniture. He received several international distinctions and medals. The cooperation between Arne Jacobsen and Fritz Hansen dates back to 1934. In 1952 the Ant (chair) was developed. It was succeeded by the Series 7 in 1955. Arne Jacobsen was very productive both as an architect and as a designer. At the end of the 50s Arne Jacobsen designed the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, and for that project the Egg, the Swan, the Swan sofa and Series 3300 were designed. While the significance of Arne Jacobsen's buildings was less appreciated, his furniture and other design work have become national and international heritage.

Arne Jacobsen's design for Fritz Hansen includes: Grand Prix, Oxford, Egg, Swan, Swan Sofa, Table Series, Dot, Series 7.

Poul Kjærholm
Poul Kjærholm (January 8, 1929 – April 18, 1980) was a Danish designer who was a trained carpenter and continued his studies at the Danish School of Arts and Crafts. He had a particular interest in different construction materials; especially steel which he considered a natural material with the same artistic fineness as other natural materials. Poul Kjærholm was employed at Fritz Hansen for about a year, where he designed a number of chair prototypes. In 1955, Poul Kjærholm initiated his collaboration with manufacturer Ejvind Kold Christensen, which lasted until Poul Kjærholm's death in 1980. In 1982, Fritz Hansen took over the production and sales of "The Kjærholm Collection", developed from 1951 to 1967. In 2007, Fritz Hansen added two new pieces to the Kjærholm Collection. Pieces that were never in production before, the PK8 side chair and PK58 dining table. Fritz Hansen's production of Poul Kjærholm's designs includes PK20, PK42, PK31, PK33, PK8, PK22, PK25, PK54, PK54A, PK80, PK80, PK91, PK9, PK54, PK58, PK61A, PK61, and PK71.

Bruno Mathsson
Bruno Mathsson (1907-1988) was a Swedish and internationally recognized designer and architect with ideas colored by functionalism/modernism, as well as old Swedish crafts tradition. He was an advocate of simplicity, beauty and elegance in form, which also applied to the furniture he designed. Mathsson's furniture was innovative in technique as well as design, his production methods included the bending of laminated wood. In Denmark, he designed the PH Superellipse Table Series in cooperation with Danish designer Piet Hein in 1968, which today is produced by Fritz Hansen.

Hans J. Wegner
Hans Jørgen Wegner, (April 2, 1914 - January 26, 2007), was one of the most innovative and prolific of all Danish furniture designers that made mid-century Danish design internationally popular. His work belongs to a modernist school that preserves function. He is probably best known for his many chairs of genuine craftmanship. Hans J. Wegner was a cabinet-maker and furniture designer and one of the principals of Danish Modern. From 1938 to 1942, he worked as a furniture designer in Arne Jacobsen and Erik Moller´s architectural practice. He is one of the Danish designers who has achieved world fame. Wegner is a meticulous craftsman and his furniture is a combination of good, solid details rooted in the tradition of the craftsmanship. The Royal Society of Arts, London made him an Honorary Royal Designers for Industry in 1959. Fritz Hansen manufactures Hans J. Wegners China Chair.

Hans S. Jakobsen
Hans S. Jakobsen is a Danish furniture-maker and designer. He is one of the Danish designers who in no time has made a name of himself in the sphere of Danish furniture design. He challenges timelessness and tries to make traditional thinking take a new turn. In spite of his young age the list of furniture branded, Design Hans Sandgren Jakobsen is already long. He has won several prestigious awards and recognition for his screen wall Viper produced by Fritz Hansen.

Hiromichi Konno
Hiromichi Konno is a Japanese designer with an international outlook. He has studied in both Japan and Sweden and also lived in London for many years. His style is very unique and there is a special energy and something almost teasing about his designs. The RIN chair is Hiromichi Konno’s first collaboration with Fritz Hansen. The idea was to create a new type of chair that is in harmony with Japanese and Danish design traditions.

Jehs + Laub
Jürgen Laub (b.1964) + Markus Jehs (b.1965) are both industrial designers from the Schwabisch Gmund University in 1992. They established the studio Jehs+Laub in 1994, and over the past couple of years they have designed furniture for Cassina, Renz, Thonet, Acerbis and lamps for Nemo and Belux. They have also designed the new showroom concept for Mercedes Benz. In 2007, the Space Series was produced in Fritz Hansen.

Kasper Salto
Kasper Salto is the designer of the Ice Series. He was trained as a cabinetmaker with Jørgen Wolff. He graduated in 1994 as a designer from the Danish Design School and in 1997, Kasper Salto became an exhibiting architect for S.E. at the Museum of Applied Art in Copenhagen. Salto's main source of inspiration is nature's superior way of designing and colouring. Kasper Salto has already received several design awards for his works. Salto received the Danish Knud V. Engelhardt's memorial award 2005.

Morten Voss
Morten Voss works mainly with the design of objects and furniture, but he is also involved in developing and designing major housing projects in Copenhagen. Today, Morten Voss stands out as one of the finest exponents of the new generation of Danish design talents who dare to go their own way. Voss’ ambition is to create design that both challenges and moves our traditional borders and at the same time appeals to our sense of humour and imagination. Compromise is not an option to Morten Voss but bending the rules is a natural part of his design approach. Voss’ has introduced the product series Attitude for Fritz Hansen, which consists of a lounge chair and table.

Pelikan Design
Pelikan Design is a partnership between Niels Gammelgaard, born in 1944 and Lars Mathiesen, born in 1950. They are both architects specializing in industrial design. For Fritz Hansen they have designed the Decision and the Wing Screen Wall Series as well as the Plano Table Series.

Piero Lissoni
Italian Piero Lissoni is a designer and architect with a degree from the Polytechnico of Milan. In 1986, Lissoni founded the Studio Lissoni. Since then Piero Lissoni has worked with a list of design brands, such as Boffi, Cassina, Kartell, Living Divani and Flos on a wide diversity of designs of furniture and lighting. Lissonis's projects are often total designs, i.e. full-scale interiors and architecture of hotels, offices and showrooms, yachts and private homes. Piero Lissoni's design principle is never to design for a specific function or purpose - but to design for human beings. For Fritz Hansen Piero Lissoni designed Lissoni Series in 2006 and in the autumn 2008, Alphabet, a modular sofa series was introduced.

Piet Hein
Piet Hein (December 16, 1905–April 17, 1996) was a Danish scientist, mathematician, inventor, designer, author, and poet, often writing under the Old Norse pseudonym "Kumbel" meaning "tombstone". After the Second World War, Scandinavian architects, tired of square buildings but cognizant that circular buildings were impractical, asked Piet Hein for a solution. Applying his mathematical prowess to the problem, Piet Hein created the superellipse, which became the hallmark of modern Scandinavian architecture .He created the Superellipse as a new oval shape for the Sergel's Square in Stockholm. In cooperation with the Swedish designer, Bruno Mathsson, he later used the shape for the Superellipse Table Series which Fritz Hansen put in production in 1968.

Todd Bracher
Todd Bracher is a native New Yorker and founder of Todd Bracher Studio. After ten years working in Copenhagen, Milan, Paris and London he is again based in New York City. His works have been curated by some of the most prestigious brands around the world from furniture design and table top, to interiors and architecture. His work has been included in major exhibitions around the world and has been pinned as “America’s next Great Designer’ by the NY Daily news among several nominations for Designer of the year in 2008 and 2009. His experience ranges from working independently, heading Tom Dixon’s design studio, acting as Professor of Design at L’ESAD in Reims France, to co-founding of the experimental collaboration ‘to22’, to most recently his appointment as Creative Director of the luxury brand Georg Jensen. Despite his New York roots, Todd Bracher’s work takes the Scandinavian design tradition as its reference point. It was this fascination with Scandinavian design which took him to Copenhagen to graduate from Danmarks Designskole. He has designed the T-No. 1 table for Fritz Hansen in 2008.

International Presence
Fritz Hansen is strongly involved in the art scene. MoMA (New York museum of modern art) and Tokyo International Art Center and Statens Museum for Kunst have decided to use Fritz Hansen furniture in the interior decoration. As part of the Egg chair's 50th anniversary, Fritz Hansen worked together with the famous artist Tal R who created 50 unique versions of the Egg chair. Today the 50 Eggs in patchwork design are travelling the work and have visited Seoul, Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne, Helsinki, Paris, Oslo and Denmark.