Hans Wegner is regarded as a master of 20th-century Danish modernism with architects Finn Juhl, Arne Jacobsen, Borg Mogensen, Poul Kjaerholm, and Verner Panton. More particular, he contributed significantly to the growth of the organic functionalism body of work. In the early 1940s, he worked with Erik Mller and Arne Jacobsen creating furniture for the Aarhus City Hall in Aarhus, Denmark, before opening his own furniture workshop. His early schooling covered both carpentry and architecture. Before the 1960s, Wegner frequently worked with cabinetmaker Johannes Hansen to bring his designs to life. His most notable creations were the beautifully tapering and curved solid-wood chairs, which were frequently made from a combination of wood and woven rattan or leather. He occasionally played with with laminates, as seen in the Three-Legged Shell Chair (1963) or the Ox Chair for Erik Jrgensen (1960). Although Wegner is most renowned for designing chairs, he has also produced distinctive lighting, desks, tables, and cabinets.
Wegner’s career took a turn when the Peacock Chair made its premiere at the Cabinetmakers’ Guild of Copenhagen in 1947. From that point on, his work was in high demand. He was forced to create a new chair for the show every spring for many years, creating almost 200 chairs in all while producing iconic pieces including the Folding Chair (1949), the Round Chair (1950), and the Flag Halyard Chair (1950). He usually drew inspiration for his contemporary designs from classic furniture. The Peacock Chair, with its fan-like back, is reminiscent of the hoop form of the Windsor chair, while the Chinese Chair (1944) is inspired by Chinese seats from the 17th century.
Although the entire procedure remained time-consuming, Wegner improved the design and manufacture of his work throughout the years. While Wegner tested the prototype at home, the Danish King Frederick IX waited two years for a four-legged Valet Chair (later versions had three legs). It gets its name from the fact that the hanger-shaped chair back is made to prevent wrinkling in a jacket and that the seat tilts forward to be used as a trousers hanger, revealing a box for cufflinks, keys, and watches. Wegner’s preferred way of working was to start with a drawing and then create a 1:5-scale model and a full-scale model from it. Each piece of furniture was sketched at full scale on a single sheet before production started, with two elevations and a top-down view placed on top of one another.