Børge Mogensen: Simplicity and Function

Especially famed for his Spanish Chair, Mogensen was one of the most important and influential representatives of Danish furniture design

B rge Mogensen was one of the most important and influential representatives of Danish furniture design. In a career spanning more than 30 years, he created a wealth of quality furniture, many pieces of which, such as his Spanish Chair, are still sold as design classics to this day. Influenced by traditional craftsmanship, Mogensen was also often inspired by Shaker furniture and design philosophies. A restless thinker, he noted down all of his ideas immediately--whether on matchboxes, napkins or used envelopes.

This magnificent monograph examines Mogensen's fascinating approach to design and presents his most well known and most popular pieces of furniture. Workshop drawings, sketches and photographs of his furniture as well as archival pictures from his everyday life offer fascinating insight into the world of the Danish designer, whose furniture is not only attractive, but also always, above all, functional.

Børge Mogensen (1914-72) opened his own design office in 1950, quickly becoming one of the designers that defined the Danish Modern style in the popular imagination with his clean and highly functional aesthetic. He eschewed fashion and excessively expensive materials, aiming first and foremost to create simple and practical furniture. He put this philosophy into practice in his design work for the Danish cooperative supermarket chain FDB, which offered high-quality, beautifully designed furniture to the Danish customer at affordable prices.