ple’s own proportions in terms of feet and inches. He did all his measuring with the students. If he designed a cupboard, he measured what was going to go in the cupboard and designed the proportions accordingly.”
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Thomas Graversen makes decisions based on his gut feeling, where is the measurement in that? ”Børge Mogensen wouldn’t talk about feelings... Børge Mogensen talked about measur-
together in the correct way. This is the essence of Danish design. Fredericia transforms all of this into something semi-industrial.” “Danish design never became democratic because FDB1 was not IKEA, which would have been an obvious development. Because of the cabinetmaker training, you couldn’t compromise on materials and use chipboard and hex keys like IKEA. It had to be wood. And that’s why it was never cheap enough and the furniture ended up for the enlightened middle classes, people with a
ing your way forward. Wegner wanted to rock the boat and create whatever he wanted. This is where Børge Mogensen is rather dry as a designer. What makes FREDERICIA’s designs fantastic are the materials. It’s about sensory perception. Kaare Klint didn’t put varnish on anything, only some bee’s wax to be able to sense the material. And this was taken on by Børge Mogensen – because the materials are what permeate all Danish design. Something else that comes from the craftsmanship of cabinetmaking is the level of detail. They were obsessed by it and focussed pathologically on the details. How to put two things
slightly better education. The forms were modernistic at that time and the lower classes would rather have something that resembled what the rich had, so that didn’t work for FDB. Then we get FREDERICIA, which has continued because they have great things, although rather expensive. Børge Mogensen’s ambassador sofa has always been expensive – the one with the double cushions – now it’s really expensive. You can see Kaare FDB was founded as a co-operative in 1896, as a result of wanting to supply consumers with lower prices and higher quality.
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