Designer

Hans J. Wegner

Danish design is an ongoing process of refinement and simplification – aiming to reduce the design to the simplest possible form consisting of four legs, a seat, a backrest and...

Hans J. Wegner is regarded as one of the most renowned and creative Danish furniture designers. He has received numerous design awards, including the Lunning Prize in 1951, the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale in 1951, the Eckersberg Medal from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1956, the Prince Eugen of Sweden Medal in 1961, the Danish Furniture Prize in 1980, the CF Hansen Medal in 1982 and the 8th International Design Prize in 1997. He was appointed an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society of Arts in London in 1959, became an honorary member of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1995 and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal College of Art in 1997.

Almost all the world’s major design museums, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen and Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, exhibit his works. Hans J. Wegner died in Denmark in January 2007, aged 92.