Every year, Carl Hansen & Son celebrates Hans Wegner's birthday with a limited-edition version of the iconic Wishbone Chair. This year, in collaboration with London-based designer and creative director, Ilse Crawford, and her multidisciplinary practice, Studioilse, the CH24 will be available in an elegant glossy navy blue finish. The deep, moody shade of navy and the high-gloss finish were both inspired by Wegner's long-standing fascination with the Asian design history and craft.
"The blue refers to the color, which has been so much a part of Chinese culture: from the blue and white china that obsessed the world for so many centuries, to the dark blue of indigo textiles," explained Crawford, "While the high gloss finish references the traditional Chinese lacquer finish."
Though the color aims to capture some of Wegner's historical interests, when paired with the Wishbone Chair's natural woven paper cord seat, the dynamic contrast in texture and tone create a distinctly contemporary statement.
Originally conceived in 1949 and produced from 1950, the Wishbone Chair was the first of five chairs that Wegner designed for Carl Hansen & Son. Today, the chair is still made in Denmark, at Carl Hansen & Son's factory on the island of Funen, where its fourteen parts are manually assembled and its papercord seat hand-woven from 395 feet of paper cord. Seventy years after it first went into production, it remains an international icon, a classic with its purity of form, earnest materiality, and impeccable craftsmanship that would come to define Danish modernism.
This limited edition chair is available for purchase through April 30th, 2020.
Photography: Courtesy of Carl Hansen & Son