Finn Juhl studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen from 1930-34 while also working at the studio of architect Vilhelm Lauritzen until 1945. Juhl was so busy working for Lauritzen that he never graduated, but became a member of the Academic Architect Society in 1942.
From 1937 until 1959 Juhl designed furniture for the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild which were mostly produced by cabinetmaker Niels Vodder. Of these the sofa Poem from 1941 and the armchair NV45 are some of the most prolific and seen as some of the most iconic pieces of the 20th century Danish design.
In 1945 Juhl founded his own design studion in Copenhagen, while also working as a teacher at the School of Interior Design in Fredriksberg (until 1955). In 1946 Juhl designed the flagship-store for the Danish porcelain manufacture Bing & Grøndahl in Copenhagen and the following year he was awarded the Eckersbergs medal.
From 1951 to 52 Juhl designed the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York. Two years later he designed the Danish exhibit at the Milan Triennale, for which Juhl was awarded an honorary diploma. In the Triennale in 1957 Juhl was awarded three gold medals for the same assignment.
During the 1950’s and 60’s Juhl worked for several prominent manufacturers such as Baker Furniture in Michigan, Bovirke in Copenhagen and France & Son in Hillerød. From 1956-61 Juhl designed interiors for SAS, Scandinavian Airlines System and made the exhibitions design for The Arts of Denmark that opened in New York 1960 and traveled through USA until 1961.
In 1968 Finn Juhl designed the exhibition Two centuries of Danish Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In 1982 the Designmuseum Denmark showed a retrospective exhibition of Juhl’s work and two years later he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the order of Dannebrog.
Finn Juhl died in 1989 at the age of 77. He is represented at museums such as the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
