ABOUT
Like other modernist pioneers, Finn Juhl started from scratch without role models or inherited limitations. But contrary to his modernist contemporaries, with their streamlined, scaffolding-like structures, he aimed at a more organic and natural form. His ambition was to create furniture that had movement and life, and therefore, many of his designs appear almost as if they are animated.
Since Finn Juhl was not trained in furniture design, he ensured proper proportions by measuring his own body and analysing how the individual components of a piece of furniture should support and carry the human body. The potential strength of the material was utilised to the maximum – just like in nature’s own constructions. As Finn Juhl translated his ideas into daring, supple joinery where each element of the design flowed seamlessly into each other, he also put enormous demands on the cabinetmakers who were to produce the design.
In creating his furniture, he worked with two central elements: the carrying, and the carried. This is evident in several of his chairs and sofas, where the seat is subtly separated and elevated from the frame, creating a floating effect and a visual lightness. It is just one example of how Finn Juhl broke with conventional methods and drew inspiration from art.
