Hans-J and PP Møbler

The fantastic people (only 23 of them) who manufacture the wooden brilliance of Hans J Wegner

- Also free posters! -

"The Chair" - Nixon and Kennedy

Obama and Kennedy in "The Chair"

PP Møbler

Upholstery Dreamin'

So the Republic of Fritz Hansen is world-renowned for manufacturing pretty much every super-famous Danish (and sometimes foreign) design ever. They literally have the monopoly on Arne Jacobsen and Poul Kjærholm. Apparently the Studio at one point employed both of them but let PK go after a blowout in which the ordered the managers at the time to choose between them. The studio is absolutely awesome. They have basically a full museum and even their offices are absolutely mind-blowing. We got to see their smaller leather workshop and then go over to the actual manufacturers for their stacking chairs (including the Jacobsen ant and series 7 chairs - see below). They gave us a run down of the entire process behind choosing hides for the Swan and Egg chairs as well as a tour of all of their meeting rooms and an intro by the new head of design.

I can imagine PK and Arne at odds. (For me PK has it for style, even if Arne Jacobsen wins for pure and unwavering devotion amongst the Danes. Also he has a pipe, so he likely wins.)

Republic of Fritz Hansen

Also a play of the famous Jacobsen Egg by Tal R:

Tal R 50th Anniversary Egg Chairs

Egg Ballet? Necessary... probably not.

At the Fritz Hansen Studios - Allerød, Denmark

Egg Ballet in Tokyo - Republic of Fritz Hansen

Arne Jacobson's Series 7 start to finish.

Day at the Fritz Hansen design studios and manufacturing factory

Making an Arne Jacobsen Series 7 Chair (as seen today)

Strips to be edge laminated to make up the front and back of the series 7

Veneer gluing machine

Rolling Veneer through to coat one side in cotton fabric for strength

Pieces put through the veneer sander to cut off jagged edges and clean surfaces

Saw to hand cut veneer chair pieces into the series 7 shape 60 at a time

Pressing the chairs into their respective curves

Chair trimmer and sander

Hand Sanding each individual chair

Priming/Filling/Painting of colored chairs

Current color selection

Digital path of paint sprayer for each chair type

Robotic spray booth (Black and White models are powder coated)

Legs for Series 7

Dreams of Fashion Blog Stardom....

....Shattered by Lack of Suitcase Space

Never the less check out (Søren Jepsen if I ever see you on the street please take my photo, please please)

The Locals and Copenhagen Streetstyle

Curtsey of a certain U-Mich Furniture Professor.

TEDly Spaces - Hvad ef godt design?

So I'm feeling like there is a wealth of inspirational material here for TEDxUofM next year. I've been wrestling with this issue of how to create a public space before the talks (applicable to Center for Entrepreneurship also...) to create immediate conversation among attendees. Today at the Design Center they had a room on the second floor that - while not quite the same, was a nice idea and really got to some of the space-using creativity that we might learn from at TEDx and some of the give/take, output/input from guests to make the visual conversation from the design team a literal one.

Also, while we are on the subject

TEDxCopenhagen

Danish Design Center

Post-6 hour lecture time was spent at the Dansk Design Center and the Statens Museum for Kunst.

(That one is for my father /\)

Arne Jacobsen

Velkomen til Danmark

First day intros at DIS and a tour of the harbor on a boat. The weather is beautiful (apparently thats extremely rare) so everyone is lounging to the fullest. I can already tell I'm going to be an incredibly lazy blogger.