Hans J. Wegner trained as a cabinetmaker before joining Copenhagen Technical College and later Copenhagen Vocational Art College until 1938. After graduation, Wegner worked in the architectural studio of Erik Møller and Flemming Lassen until 1940. Three years later, Wegner joined the studio of Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller in Århus, where he designed the furniture for the Århus City Hall and began collaborating with cabinetmaker Johannes Hansen.
From 1943 to -46, Wegner ran his own design studio in Århus, where he created reinterpretations of older furniture models, including the Windsor chair. In 1946, he joined Palle Suenson in Copenhagen but returned to his own studio in 1948. During the same year, Wegner made his international breakthrough when he participated in the Low-Cost Furniture Design exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Together with the publication of The Chair in the American magazine Interior in 1950, the exhibition led to large commissions in the USA. The chair was inspired by Chinese furniture and soon became one of the strongest symbols for Scandinavian design.
Wegner was awarded the Lunning Prize in 1951, a Gold Medal at the Milan Triennale in 1954, the Eckersbergs Medal in 1956, and the Prince Eugen Medal in 1961. From the mid-1950s, the industrial production of Wegner’s designs began with Fritz Hansen and Salesco.
In 1969, Wegner was appointed Royal Designer for Industry by the RSA. In 1997, he was awarded the 8th International Design Award in Osaka and was appointed an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London. The following year, a permanent exhibition of Wegner’s work opened at the art museum in his hometown of Tønder.
Wegner is also represented as a designer at museums all over the world, including the Museum of Furniture Studies in Stockholm and the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein. Hans J. Wegner designed over 500 pieces of furniture and product design. Of his most well-known pieces, one can mention the Peacock Chair (1947), the Y-Chair (1949), the Ox Chair (1960), and the lamp The Pendant (1962). He passed away at the age of 93 in 2007.
