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Handpicked designs. Expected delivery 3-7 days. Always 14 days return policy
Handpicked designs. Expected delivery 3-7 days. Always 14 days return policy
Updated: April 29, 2025
When talking about Danish design, it is impossible to avoid furniture. And not just furniture as things you sit or lie on – but furniture as handicrafts, as functional everyday objects and as something that tells a story about how we want to live and work. Danish furniture design has had enormous significance – both at home and abroad – and some of the most groundbreaking names still stand as benchmarks for good taste, good craftsmanship and well-thought-out functionality.
Here you will get an introduction to four of the most significant Danish furniture designers of all time. Four men who, with widely different expressions and ideas, have shaped how we sit, relax and furnish ourselves – and whose works remain relevant, decade after decade.
Arne Jacobsen was an architect first and a designer later, and you can see that in his furniture. He thought in wholes. Not just in chairs and tables, but in rooms and buildings where everything was connected – from wallpaper and lamps to door handles and cutlery. One of the best examples is the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, which he designed down to the smallest detail. This is where we know The egg og Swan – two chairs that still stand as icons in modern interior design.
What made Arne Jacobsen special was his ability to combine the strict, functional design language with something soft and organic. His furniture is not only beautiful – it is also pleasant to use. He was one of the first to seriously consider ergonomics in design, and that is perhaps precisely why his furniture never really goes out of style. It still works – both in the body and in the space.
Jacobsen worked from the idea that good form should follow function. It was not decoration for decoration's sake, but a complete aesthetic where everything had its place. This is perhaps why his furniture is often experienced as calm and balanced – even today, when the design scene is filled with noise and trends.
Most Danes have had a pH lamp hanging in their home at some point. And there's a reason for that. Poul Henningsen revolutionized the way we think about lighting. Before him, lamps were something that just had to light up – often far too brightly. PH insisted that light should be pleasant, glare-free and create atmosphere. He actually believed that the way we are lit has an impact on our entire quality of life.
His lamps were developed in close collaboration with Louis Poulsen and are still some of the best-selling design products in Denmark. The classic PH lamp with the offset shades is not just beautiful – it is constructed with millimeter precision, so that the light is thrown exactly where it is comfortable to be.
But Henningsen was not only a designer. He was also a debater, satirist and social critic. He wrote about architecture, politics and culture, and his designs were deeply rooted in the idea that design should be for people – not for architects or directors, but for everyone. Perhaps that is precisely why his lamps feel so homely and human. They are created for everyday life.
If you could put a color and a shape on the 60s and 70s, it would probably look something like this: Verner Panton had drawn. Where many of his contemporaries worked in wood and neutral tones, Panton threw himself into plastic, steel, foam and the entire color palette. His approach was experimental, playful and futuristic. He was not afraid to go his own way – and he did so with great success.
Panton trusted his intuition and dared to create something that no one else dared. The most famous example is Panton Chair – a chair made of one continuous piece of plastic that almost looks like it's floating in the air. It was radical when it first appeared, and it remains one of the most famous examples of modern plastic design.
He also designed entire interiors, where walls, ceilings, floors and furniture merged into one total experience. It was colorful, psychedelic and completely out of the future – and perhaps that is why his universe seems so inspiring today. Verner Panton showed that Danish design is not only about natural materials and muted tones – it is also about courage, experimentation and the unexpected.
Where Verner Panton dreamed of the future, Borge Mogensen both feet firmly planted in reality. He was concerned with creating furniture for ordinary people – furniture that would last a long time, be comfortable to use and easy to fit into the home. He was not interested in the spectacular. He wanted to make life a little better – one chair at a time.
Mogensen's furniture is characterized by simplicity and clear carpentry. He often used oak, leather and other natural materials and had a special ability to make the robust appear light and harmonious. Classics such as The People's Chair, The Spanish Chair og The hunting chair is still produced and loved in both Denmark and abroad.
He was a strong advocate of functionality – not as something boring, but as something liberating. A piece of furniture should be able to withstand use. It should be able to stand in the living room for 30 years and only become more beautiful over time. It is a philosophy that fits directly into the sustainability mindset that we talk about so much today. Børge Mogensen was ahead of his time – precisely because he designed for life, not for fashion.
Although Arne Jacobsen, Poul Henningsen, Verner Panton and Børge Mogensen were very different, they had something important in common: They didn't just design for the eye – they designed for people. They were interested in how it feels to sit in a chair, how light falls in a room, how materials age and how a piece of furniture can make everyday life a little easier and a little more beautiful.
That's why their furniture is still relevant. They touch something fundamental in us. Something about quality, aesthetics, function – and perhaps also something about security. A piece of furniture from one of these designers is not just an object. It is part of our shared culture and history. And that's why they are still in our homes today – and probably in our grandchildren's too.
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