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Home > Carl Hansen > Chairs > CH26 chair
The CH26 Chair design dates back to 1950, but the chair had never before been produced, and no mockups existed. The CH26’s striking similarity to the CH22 Lounge Chair is evident in the armrests and the characteristic, sweeping form of the armrest supports. Because Wegner intended for the CH26 Chair to serve as a dining or desk chair, he gave serious consideration to the chair’s proportions and its height in relation to tables, adjusting the CH26’s frame and seat structure to enhance strength and stability.
The CH26 Chair has now finally come to life, manufactured in exact accordance with Wegner’s original, hand-drawn sketches, the only exception being two extra centimeters that have been added to the chair’s height to accommodate today’s higher tables and people. The CH26 Chair offers an excellent ergonomy, a robust construction, and characteristically shaped elements, which result in a distinctive appearance that expresses the extent to which every detail has been thought through.Â
The CH26 Chair is available in solid oak and walnut as well as a combination of these wood types, with various finishes. The seat is available in natural or black paper cord.Â
Dimensions  H79,8 x P51,9 x L59,2 cm – Seat height 44,5 cm
Wood Different combinations of structure, backrest and seat are possible. The inlays in the backrest (cruciform cover caps) are always in the same type of wood as that of the structure.
CH26 Chair
from
soaped oak + natural papercord
black painted oak + black papercord
oiled oak + natural papercord
smoked oiled oak + natural papercord
oiled oak/walnut + natural papercord
oiled walnut + natural papercord
black painted oak + natural papercord
This seat cushion was especially designed for the CH26 chair. It is reversible and available in 7 colours of Loke leather.
The Loke leather is a buffed, embossed ox hide with a coated surface. Hides used for this type of leather are sanded to uniform thickness and then embossed to achieve a uniform surface without visible scares or other marks. Finally, a top coating is added to give the leather a protective layer. This type of leather has a pleasant surface with low breathability. The advantages of Loke leather are that is requires low-maintenance and resists most stains and fading from sunlight.
Cushion for CH26 – Loke 7150 leather
Cushion for CH26 – Loke 7748 leather
Cushion for CH26 – Loke 7270 leather
Cushion for CH26 – Loke 7100 leather
Cushion for CH26 – Loke 7050 leather
Cushion for CH26 – Loke 7170 leather
Cushion for CH26 – Loke 7160 leather
Hans J. Wegner
Hans J. Wegner was born in 1914 in Tønder, Denmark, the son of a shoemaker. At the age of 17, he finished his apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker with H. F. Stahlberg, in whose workshops Wegner’s first design experiments took form. He moved to Copenhagen as a 20 year-old, and attended the School of Arts and Crafts from 1936 – 1938 before he began working as an architect.
As a young architect, Wegner joined Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller in Århus, working on furniture design for the new Århus city hall in 1940. It was during the same year that Wegner began collaborating with master cabinetmaker, Johannes Hansen, who was a driving force in bringing new furniture design to the Danish public.
The Copenhagen Museum of Art and Industry acquired its first Wegner chair in 1942.
Wegner started his own design office in 1943. It was in 1944 that he designed the first “Chinese chair” in a series of new chairs that were inspired by portraits of Danish merchants sitting in Ming chairs. One of these chairs, the “Wishbone Chair”, designed in 1949 and produced by Carl Hansen & Son in Odense since 1950, became the most successful of all Wegner chairs.
Among Danish furniture designers, Hans J. Wegner is considered one of the most creative and productive. He has received practically every major recognition given to designers, including the Lunning prize, the grand prix of the Milan Triennale, Sweden’s Prince Eugen medal and the Danish Eckersberg medal. Wegner is an honorary Royal designer for industry of the Royal Society of Arts in London. Almost all of the world’s major design museums – from The Museum of Modern Art in New York to Die Neue Sammlung in Munich – include his furniture in their collections.
Hans J. Wegner died in Denmark in January, 2007.
A few major characteristics about Hans J. Wegner:
- First a cabinetmaker, then a designer: he integrates exacting joinery techniques and exquisite forms.
- A deep respect for wood and its characteristics – and an abiding curiosity about other natural materials.
- Brings an organic, natural softness to formalistic minimalism.
- Generally regarded as ”the master of the chair”, with more than 400 chair designs to his name.
