BEAK Chair OW124 🇩🇰 Carl Hansen

OW124 Beak Chair Carl Hansen & Søn Ole Wanscher, 1951

Ole Wanscher designed the Beak chair OW124 in 1951, and presented it the same year at the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' Guild Furniture Exhibition. The Beak chair is an example of Wanscher's craftsmanship as well as his sculptural and refined design. The originality of its beak-shaped armrests inspired the chair's nickname: Beak. Carl Hansen & Søn is now adding it to its collection of classic furniture.The OW124 has a solid wood structure available in a multitude of finishes, as well as cushions covered with leather.

Ole Wanscher (1903-1985) was a leading figure in the Scandinavian design movement. The qualities inherent in Ole Wanscher's furniture designs began to receive widespread international attention in the early 1990s. Today, all Ole Wanscher's pieces are desirable collector's items for enthusiasts around the world. His furniture exudes underplayed elegance and is it timeless, classic and thoroughly modern at one and the same time.

Dimensions L65 x P73 x H79 cm – Seat height 40 cm

Structure & armrests solid wood – oak or walnut
Seat & back Cold foam CMHR – leather upholstery

Beak Chair
from

Oiled oak + leather Sif 95

Oiled walnut + leather Sif 95

Soaped oak + leather Thor 301

Black painted oak + leather Sif 93

Oiled walnut + leather Thor 307

Soaped oak + leather Sif 90

▸ wood & finishes

▸ leathers

Ole Wanscher

Ole Wanscher (1903-1985) was integral to the core aesthetic and functionality of modern Danish design. He studied under Kaare Klint at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and later worked at Klint’s design studio before becoming an independent furniture designer. He helped shape Danish furniture design as a designer and as an educator when he took over Klint’s professorship at the Academy.

Wanscher’s classic and contemporary designs made him popular. In 1958, the Danish newspaper Politiken wrote: “Owning a Wanscher chair is an adventure every day, and will

be so even several hundred years from now, for this is how long it lasts”. Today, his modern classics are still revered for their detail and his deep respect for materials.

While traveling through Egypt and Europe, Wanscher studied furniture design, finding inspiration in varied visual expressions that he incorporated into his own unique design aesthetic. He viewed furniture design as a branch of architecture and emphasized slim dimensions and resilient forms – a quest exemplified in many of his works, particularly the Colonial Chair and Colonial Sofa.

Wanscher created his best-known designs primarily between the late 1940s and early 1960s, in the post-war era when the “design for everyone” philosophy emerged. In Denmark, some of design’s biggest names created functional and affordable furniture for the Danish people and the small spaces they lived in. Wanscher took great interest in industrially produced yet high-quality furniture, designing several successful pieces.

Wanscher’s design earned him numerous accolades, including the Copenhagen Carpenters’ Guild Annual Award and the gold medal at the Milan Triennale in 1960 – honors that underscored Wanscher’s esteemed reputation both in Denmark and internationally.

OW124 Beak chair – Carl Hansen