The Hunting Chair

By Børge Mogensen , 1950

Designed in 1950, The Hunting Chair was Mogensen's first work with exposed wooden framing and saddle leather. The seat is adjustable with solid brass buckles, and the chair is easy to move around to different locations in the home.

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The Hunting Chair
The Hunting Chair - Model 2229
Easy chair  
W: 70,5 cm
D: 87 cm
H: 67 cm
Wt: 9 kg
Cbm: 0.45 cbm
Sh: 28 cm

About The Collection

The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection
The Spanish Chair & Hunting Chair Collection

It’s ironic that something called The Spanish Chair would become synonymous with Danish design. However, the origin of its name and its distinctive aesthetic render the chair worthy of its reputation.

Børge Mogensen drew much of his inspiration from traditional chairs of other cultures, such as English Windsor chairs and the Shaker movement in America. In Spain, a traditional way of making furniture involved the use of sturdy leather to construct the seat as part of a wooden structure – hence the name of what went on to become one of Mogensen's most celebrated designs.

Mogensen was an advocate of visual tranquillity, simple lines, strong construction and natural materials that bring an extra dimension of beauty and add to a design's longevity. Principles that supported his belief that good furniture should be enjoyed now and for generations to come.

The Spanish Dining Chair achieves all of that and more. With its Danish accent on function-driven design, durability and the simple, declarative style, it’s a modern classic that’s easy to envision in hotels, restaurants, homes and countless other upscale settings around the globe.

The
Collection

THE SPANISH COLLECTION
The Spanish Dining Chair
The Spanish Dining Chair

The Spanish Dining Chair
The Spanish Dining Chair
The Spanish Dining Chair

The Spanish Dining Chair
The Hunting Chair
The Hunting Chair

The Hunting Chair
The Spanish Chair
The Spanish Chair

The Spanish Chair

Børge Mogensen

Designer

MY GOAL IS TO CREATE ITEMS THAT SERVE PEOPLE AND GIVE THEM THE LEADING ROLE, INSTEAD OF FORCING THEM TO ADAPT TO THE ITEMS

Børge Mogensen (1914-1972) was one of the most influential designers in shaping Danish Modern design and present day Fredericia’s founding designer from 1955 until his death in 1972. He found inspiration all over the world in his quest to create everyday objects that would endure for generations. Mogensen's most recognised pieces were developed during his collaboration and friendship with Fredericia CEO Andreas Graversen.

Børge Mogensen was one of the pioneers that created the foundation for the Danish Design as a culture of furniture design. His life-long ambition was to create durable and useful furniture that would enrich people’s everyday lives, and he designed functional furniture for all parts of the home and society.

Mogensen’s ideal was to create furniture with a restrained aesthetic. He believed that furniture should create a sense of tranquillity and have a modest appearance that encourages people to live their lives unpretentiously. He was acclaimed for his masterful sense of materials and proportions, and for his ability to create beautiful and distinctive furniture by emphasising simple horizontal and vertical lines and surfaces – all in an attempt to create aesthetic clear designs that were easy to produce.

While working strictly within his self-imposed dogmas, Mogensen’s artistic temperament often led him to break his formal rules without abandoning their original intent. Thus Mogensen’s furniture can be described as both modest and very self-confident - just as their creator. Throughout his life Mogensen was one of the boldest voices in the critical debate on furniture design. He often criticised his peers for surrendering their artistic authenticity in favour of short-sighted fashions, but he always welcomed innovations that he found offered real progression. Mogensen preferred to work in refined, yet rustic, natural materials such as solid oak, natural leather, wool fabrics, and brass mountings.

”I DO
BECOME MORE AND MORE NARROW IN MY
DEVOTION. WITHIN A VERY LIMITED FIELD, I STRIVE TO LIVE OUT TO THE UTMOST BORDER OF POSSIBILITIES WITHIN BOTH THE MATERIAL AND THE SHAPE. SOMETIMES I CROSS THAT BORDER – AND THEN I LEARN”

Mogensen was a trained cabinet-maker and furniture designer at the Copenhagen School of Arts and Crafts before entering the school of furniture design at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, where he was taught by Kaare Klint and graduated in 1941. Throughout his career Mogensen continued to defend the ideals of evolutionary design progression that were essential to the Klint School, while also expanding on the tradition. Contrary to Klint, Mogensen was not only inspired by the traditional cabinet-maker’s types and crafts - instead he adapted models planned for industrial production, as well as the more informal housing that emerged in the 1960’s.

In 1948 Mogensen participated in MoMA’s international furniture competition ”low-cost furniture”. Back home in Denmark, inspired by the exhibition, he experimented with plywood shells and fused the international modernist movement with his own design identity. Mogensen also found inspiration in ethnic arts & crafts, lithography and Japanese wooden carvings.

In 1950, Mogensen opened a private design office, and shortly after, in 1952 he began collaborating with young interior architect and entrepreneur, Andreas Graversen, who would later become owner of Fredericia Furniture.

Andreas Graversen’s acquisition of Fredericia in 1955 marked the start of more than a purely professional partnership with Børge Mogensen. Over the years, the two developed a strong friendship, fuelled by a common desire to create simple, high-quality furniture with enduring aesthetic appeal. They were equally dedicated and passionate to their crafts, and their partnership was often temperamental.

Mogensen’s most recognisable pieces were developed to fit Fredericia’s workshop. One reason for Mogensen's immersive creativity at Fredericia was Graversen’s ability to follow him in his intentions and consistently fulfil his uncompromising demands for quality. To this day, Fredericia is the primary producer of Børge Mogensen’s furniture. Graversen and Mogensen’s high demands for quality, functionality and sense of material are still very much alive in our approach when developing new furniture today.

Mogensen received the The Eckersberg Medal 1950, as well as the highest architectural honours in Denmark, the C.F. Hansen medal, in 1972. In 1971 he and Andreas Graversen jointly received the Danish Furniture Prize for their contribution to the Danish furniture industry, and in 1972 Mogensen was appointed Honoury Royal Designer for Industry at the Royal Society of Arts in London. Examples of Mogensen’s designs can be seen in leading design museums around the world.

Børge Mogensen died in 1972, only 58 years old.