Scandinavia Design, official Fritz Hansen retailer
Fritz Hansen, Danish Design
customer account
Fr
cart
En
menu

-15% off with DESIGN15*

Little Giraffe Chair with Swivel Base

Fritz Hansen – Arne Jacobsen, 1959

Versatile and comfortable, the Little Giraffe with swivel base can be used daily in offices and meeting rooms where its timeless style fits perfectly with any style of environment.

The Giraffe chair was designed in 1959 for the SAS Royal Hotel restaurant - the same hotel for which Arne Jacobsen designed the Egg, the Swan and several other famous models. The original Giraffe had a high back – origin of its nickname – and a wooden base. Then Arne Jacobsen made several experiments, creating a special leather version on a pivoting star base that he offered to the hotel manager and a low-back version with a metal base, the Little Giraffe. 

Removable upholstery The Little Giraffe is available with a fixed or removable cover. In both cases, the chair is upholstered without glue, using a double seam that highlights beautifully its silhouette. Note that leather chairs are not available in a removable version.

Base satin polished aluminium or black 

Warranty 5 years

Fixed cover (3211)
from

Removable cover (3211R)
from

â–¸ Fabrics & Leathers

Examples:

Christianshavn 1121  (price group 0)
/ black

Christianshavn 1132  (price group 0)
/ aluminium

Christianshavn 1110  (price group 0)
/ black

Christianshavn 1135  (price group 0)
/ black

Leather Grace walnut 20195 (price group 5)
/ aluminium

Christianshavn 1174  (price group 0)
/ black

Christianshavn 1150 (price group 0)
/ black

Christianshavn 1154  (price group 0)
/ aluminum

Arne Jacobsen

Arne Jacobsen is born on February 11, 1902 in Copenhagen. His father, Johan Jacobsen, is a wholesale trader in safety pins and snap fasteners. His mother, Pouline Jacobsen, a bank clerk, paints floral motifs in her spare time. The family lived in a typical Victorian style home. As a contrast to his parents’ overly decorated taste, Arne paints his room in white.

 

Background & school relations

He met the Lassen brothers at Nærum Boarding School: later, Flemming Lassen was to become his partner in a series of architectural projects. Arne Jacobsen is a restless pupil, always up to pranks, with a self-deprecating humour. Already as a child, he showed an extraordinary talent for drawing and depicting nature through scrupulous studies. He wants to be painter, but his father felt that architect was a more sensible choice.

 

The Pleasant and the necessary trips abroad

Jacobsen’s travelling begin already in his twenties, when he went to sea to New York. Then followed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer in Germany and a series of study and drawing excursions to Italy. Jacobsen produced some of his finest watercolours during this period, capturing atmospheres and shapes accurately and carefully. From the beginning of his career, Jacobsen turned his gaze abroad, without abandoning Danish traditions.

 

Arne Jacobsen behind the design

Jacobsen production reflects his personality: an insistent, perfectionist modernist, to whom no detail was trivial, although the main picture was basically black/white and unambiguous. On the other hand, the nature-loving botanist and jovial family man: like him, his work is precise and warm, Danish and universal, modern and timeless.