CH24 Wishbone Chair - Carl Hansen & Søn

In the late 1940s Hans J. Wegner was largely only known in expert circles, and only relatively few critics appreciated his unusual design. Then in 1949 Eivind Kold Christensen, sales manager of the furniture manufacturer Carl Hansen & Son, spotted Wegner's work in an exhibition in Copenhagen, recognised the great potential of the designer and asked him to design chairs exclusively for Carl Hansen & Son. Hans J. Wegner developed four models, including the CH24, which were, in contrast to his earlier designs, also suitable for partial machine production and thus for series production. The Carl Hansen CH24 chair would not only become Wegner's greatest success, but also one of the most successful products in the Carl Hansen & Søns portfolio. The principle characteristic of the CH24 Wishbone Chair is the Y-shaped element in the backrest, hence its popular nickname: the Y Chair. The CH24 shines with its clean, ergonomic, harmonic design and in comparison to earlier Wegner chairs offers the occupant more space.

Y-shaped backrest of the CH24 Chair

Designer

Hans J. Wegner discovered his passion for furniture design during his carpentry apprenticeship. Following the completion of his practical training Wegner studied from 1936 to 1938 at the Copenhagen School of Applied Arts and later established himself as an independent architect. In 1940 he designed a chair collection for the new City Hall in Aarhus, a project realised by Arne Jacobsen and Eric Moller, and started in the same year began a cooperation with Johannes Hansen. For Hansen he developed in 1944 his first so-called China Chair, on whose design the later Y Chair is based. In 1949 Wegner designed as exclusive commissions for Carl Hansen & Son the chairs CH22, CH23, CH24 and CH25. Today Hans J. Wegner is world famous mainly for his numerous award-winning chair designs. Hans J. Wegner died in 2007 in his native Copenhagen.

To celebrate the 100th birthday of designer Hans J. Wegner in 2014 Carl Hansen released an anniversary edition of the CH24.

Manufacturer

CH24 manufacturer Carl Hansen & Son can look back on a long history. Founded in 1908 by Carl Hansen as a small carpentry firm the company quickly became known for its high quality furniture. Whereas in the early years they produced exclusively custom-made objects with the expansion of the company came small scale series production of the most popular pieces; a combination of quality craftsmanship and series production that remains central to the to Carl Hansen & Son philosophy. In addition to Hans J. Wegner's designs Carl Hansen & Son largely produce furniture designs from furniture from the mid 20th century by architects such as Kaare Klint or Frits Henningsen; however, they also represent more recent designers, such as the Japanese architect Tadao Ando or Morten Gottler whose MG501 Cuba Chair can be found in the Carl Hansen & Son collection.