WORLD HISTORY ICONS Since 2010 Brand Book - No. 9
INTROD UCTION
2010 , a sunday morning. My mom and I was treasure hunting at a flea market, when I stumbled across an old Army-Navy fuel can.
The beginning of an adventure was just about to begin. Like most start-ups the upcycling project started in a garage. The result was awful and ended as scrap with many other prototypes. The years went by and one day my dear dad suggested to make a bar cabinet out of the old fuel cans. Over time more designs came on board and created the base for the Danish Fuel brand. In April 2013 we entered the international market, at the world’s most prestigious furniture fair, Salone Int. del Mobile in Milan, Italy. Nowadays Danish Fuel is well known by many, and the Royal Danish Family is among the owners of the Danish Fuel designs. In this Brand Book we have collected some of the new Danish Fuel designs. The highlights of our journey creating the designs and back to the early days of Danish Design. Warmly, René Sundahl Danish Fuel Storyteller
Brand Book - No. 9
WAYBACk PLAYBACK Denmark is the country, home of Danish Fuel. Surrounded by Skagerrak oceans and the North Sea, disguised in nature among heather plants and wandering sand dunes. A country known by the the word “hygge”, and for it´s minimalistic and functional designs.
The words that immediately comes to mind regarding the Danish design; functionalist, minimalist, pure, sleek lines, meticulous craftsmanship, sturdy yet elegant. Welcome to Danish Fuel’s birth, rise and future. Please enjoy!
THE GREAT INVENTION Many of today’s designs had its early beginning from a time with limited resources , More specifically, World War II, and unique designs was required. Everything from the BIG ball pen, superglue, freeze-dried coffee and many other designs saw the day of light during the Second World War. These products, ensuring they’re absolutely perfect. They’re basically so perfect that they blend seamlessly into our lives, almost invisibly serving their intended functions. We have experienced many ingenious and perfect-appearing designs throughout the history and several of these came from wartime efforts. To address part of the nearly endless list of inventions back in 1935-1950, let’s have a closer look at one truly important historic product - the jerry can petrol can - and how brilliant it was designed. And now redesigned as a bar cabinet for this cottage house in the northern part of Denmark.
DANISH DESIGN First of all, the Danish modern movement, like the mid-century modern, dates roughly from 1933 to 1965, with roots in the Industrial Revolution and post World War I era. The geographical position of Denmark was also a great influence on the design. The standard jerry can is not a Danish design. It was first designed just before the World War II, in 1937 by Vinzenz Grünvogel from the Müller engineering firm for military use. An American and British adaption of the brilliant design was almost unavoidable, and in 1942 the US ordered 19 millions jerry cans to be made in one single order. Just like in the Danish design history, the fine Danish craftsmanship was also a key factor in the making of Danish Fuel’s products. In 2010 we tracked down some of the old jerry cans to a military surplus stockhouse in Europe. It was at this time we were on our way to redesign and upcycle the unique jerry can. Another main factor was to preserve the shapes and specifics of the brilliant original design. The color codes that were used during the second world war to refined details to all variate liquid each jerry can contained, is adapted into the Danish Fuel design. With respect for the original design, we have added some more refined details of the use for all the variate design products we make for everyday use.
THE DESIGN IS SO SIMPLE - thats why it´s so complicated
Modernism and the rise of individualism are great factors in the formation of the Danish Fuel design ethos. We keep that in mind when creating the re-designs of the jerry cans in order to match or mix into any interior.
PROUDLY DANISH - truly international The complete destruction of the social order due to the First World War influenced the course of arts and Danish design greatly. The simplification of design in the interwar period, and the gradual influence of art movements such as German Bauhaus gave way to the awe-inspiring designs that emerged in Denmark, starting as early as 1914 with Kaare Klint’s Faaborg chair. This image is an example of how to decor a tiny bathroom. Embraced by a raw brick wall and concrete floors, the Danish Fuel Bathroom Cabinet, shown with shelves of warm shade walnut, stands out. Its an icon on the wall, with a build-in-mirror in the door of the cabinet. Do you dare open it?
THE jerry can specifications The small can was brilliantly designed. It had to be affordable to produce and easy to transport. The square design made it easy to stack and store the cans in small spaces.
Cam lock top. No leaking when refueling
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During the Second World War II, more than 200 factories were manufacturing the small, unique and lifesaving can. Invented in 1937
Three handles to carry it in multiply ways
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Reccessed welded seams resistant to shocks
Designed by Vinzenz Grünvogel
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Name: Whermacht-Einheitskanister
Floats in water due to an internal airpocket
Holds 20L / 5 gallons Empty weight 4kg / 8.8lbs Adapted by American and British in 1941 + 1800 duplicates made 21 million made by 1944
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3
Production year, contry of origin, S/N, embossed
A pressed cross strengthens the metal plates
4 5 Simple construction of two pressed metal plates
Copy of a German Jerry Can order, 1939
Hot applied inside synthetic linning, resist corrossion
Female U.S. Army nurses to reach Okinawa in the spring of 1945 Washing their faces with water from the Jerry Cans in the field on May 3.
Original Jerry Can from 1944 as it looks when we have collected it. German Einheits-kanister. Made by Nowack Bautzen.
The jerry can was designed with an internal air pocket, so it could float on water when dumped from an airplane.
Some 21 million Jerry Cans were scattered all over Europe in 1944
THE RECYCLING During World War II, an unbelievable 3.5 million jerry cans were reported lost in October 1944, when military movements of troops and vehicles reached its peak. This problem reached such epidemic proportions that the U.S. even offered rewards to French schoolchildren for collecting empty, discarded jerry cans. Approximately one million cans were recovered this way.
CIVILIAN USAGE
Though jerry cans were made for the purpose of war, they were also heavily used by the civilians. At the beginning of the Second World War, Australia was lamentably unprepared for a conflict, especially in regard of petrol supplies. The First World War provided no guidelines to the matter, although petrol rationing had been considered early in 1918. Restrictions would have meant that fewer ships would have made deliveries all the way to Australia. Rationing during the Second World War was a fact of life for everyone. Drivers had to apply for a petrol license, from which they were allocated ration tickets based on their needs. The jerry can was designed to hold 5 gallon / 20 L, so the rationing was measured after its size. The cans popularity was huge back in it´s heyday around 1950. Even though the Second World War had ended and left more than 21 million jerry cans.
l
Origina
THe REDESIGN The bar cabinet was actually not the first design we came up with. Since 2010 we have worked towards a streamlined upcycling process, but we actually progressed in the opposite direction. We had a unique idea, but we had to focus on the economical possible. It turned out that the solution we chose was neither easy nor the cheapest. Making the product details stand out is far from a simple job. Images to the left show the before and after upcycling. The Danish Fuel designs have been the mother of inspiration for a tremendous numbers of DIY made jerry can products, that have popped up all over the internet these. We feel honored when someone finds inspiration in our designs - and even try to duplicate our creations. We see it as a public quality stamp of our way to make creative designs. Below, the original design drawing of The Danish Fuel Bar Cabinet.
2011
OUR WORKSHOP Welcome inside our workshop in Denmark. We are proudly Danish - truly international. All designs is Made In Denmark.
Jerry Can manufacturer during World War II Austin Motor company, South Wales 1943
Est 2010 The futURE
From
ZERO Danish Fuel the story The BIRTH Far away from traffic lights and smartphones, Danish Fuel was born. The breakthrough to the international design scene came in 2013 at the Salone int. del Mobile in Milan, Italy. The most prestigious furniture fair in the world. The Danish Royal Family is among the owners of Danish Fuel designs.
The RISE If we had known the challenges we would face in years to come, we would have never had began this journey. However, at the time we were a little naive and thought “How hard can it be to make a table? ”It’s just a big plate and four pieces of wood as legs, right?!” Turned out, it was a bit more complicated.
Our designs are very analogue, and we’ll continue the coming design with same DNA. At the time of writing we are in the design progress of making more creative designs to add to the Danish Fuel design line. At our website you can sign up for a dedicated newsletter and be the first to see what’s on its way.
to
We source only the best available components and utilize a handmade production process in our state-of-the-art workshop. Furthermore, we believe that products should be built to last. Every Danish Fuel product comes with a two years guarantee, but will hopefully last more than a lifetime. After all, there’s a certain satisfaction in knowing your Danish Fuel item can be passed down to the next generation.
HERO
Sandblasting
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Cleaning IN A FURNACE
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01
The UPCYCLING
Laser cutting
We aim for making a high end product. To obtain premium quality work we collaborate with many Danish suppliers - the all of them located within a one hour driving distance. Over the course of three weeks, our jerry cans go through these seven steps.
Assembling
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Plywood MOLDING
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UPCYClin NEW Coating
Packaging
How do we upcycle?
WE LOVE UPCYCLING
TEN AUTHENTIC COLORS Moscow White / Rose / Copper / Gold / Racing Green / Missile Grey / Nano Black / Army Green / Normandy Yellow / Gas Red
The jerry cans were cleverly colored to indicate what kind of liquid they contained. Here’s some of the codes: Red = Gasoline Yellow = Diesel White = Gear Oil Grey = Kerosene The army green color is the original color used by German tank division in late 1944. Check out 5***** reviews on Google
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bend-a-ply The shelves in the cabinets are made of bend plywood. Thin layers of wood veneers are sewn together and glued on both sides. The second step is putting the many layers of veneer into a heated pressing tool for 30 minutes. After the hardening we can start cutting, grinding and sanding. The last thing to do is apply wood oil. The cabinets are available in 120 combinations of colors and wood types. It gives you the opportunity to put together your new design, so it can match or mix with any given interior design. Extra wood oil for maintenance of the wooden shelves is included, when you get your new Danish Fuel cabinet. All the wood is FSC-certified (Forest Stewardship Council)
WE LOVE WOOD
How do we make the shelves?
Black Stain Oak
Walnut
Smoked Oak
Zebrano
The WOOD TYPES Images to the right: The six wood types at the pouring table on the bar cabinet. We use the same six wood types for the bathroom cabinet, first aid cabinet and key cabinet. The black stain oak in true black and the smoked oak is dark brown. Image below: The bathroom cabinet shown in copper with zebrano wood interior.
Oak
Red Gum (Australian Eucalyptus)
BATHROOM CABINET
Limited Editons
THE GREEN BATHROOM
A Danish Fuel bathroom Cabinet like this is made to mix and match any interior design. We often get the question: Which design is your favorite? Answer: It’s the next!
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THE STATEMENT MAKING BATHROOM
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Follow that dream
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THE FIRST AID CABINET
The first aid cabinet is a extended variation of the bathroom cabinet. With a centered red cross placed behind the door with the build-in mirror, you´ll get a 3D effect. The red cross is cut out by a laser-cutting machine to archive precision.
BAR CABINET
Limited Editons RACING GREEN BAR
A CONVERSATION STARTER When we designed the bar babinet, we came to the conclusion that it’s not suitable for everyone. Exclusively made for the ones who wants a personal room with unique designs that have a story to be told. A design that leads to conversations, catches the eye, and drags you closer to it.
A special satin deep mat coating is used for the Missile Grey color. With its silk soft surface it adds elegance to the masculine metal bar cabinet.
HOME BAR LIVING
Gas red bar babinet shown with shelf of american walnut
NORMANDY YELLOW
C OLLECTORS ITEM
The true collectors are not out to catch an everyday vintage design bar cabinet. Instead, they want one-of-a-kind iconic creation provanance and historical importance. Compared to the cuting edge steel, wood and furniture of the era, this bar cabinet is a rebel and extreamely rare to come across, Its seems like the star of Danish Fuel designs is not going to fall any time soon. This is the Limited World War II editions.
WORLD WAR II EDTIONS It´s like women´s relationship to the ”Little Black Dress”. It´s timeless, looks flawless and goes with everything. Besides, having one expensive but high quality black dress is better then having fifty cheap ones. Like the this cabinet has been acted during world war II, makes it one-of-a-kind. A one-off piece German and British Jerry Can.
ID no. of your own choice Your personal initials Certificate with your name
the key CABINET This key cabinet is made as a multi storage cabinet, which means that you can use it not only for your keys, but also as storage of the small items you struggle to find around the house and hard to remember where you put them. It has five hooks to the right and left side to hang your keys. A small tin box to hold small items is enclosed. Underneath the cabinet you’ll find five larger hooks, where you can hang jackets, umbrella and handbag. The dimension is 20L as this was the standard dimenson of the Jerry Can design back in 1937. 5kg / 11 lb 36cm/14inch wide. 48cm/19,2inch height. 18cm/7,2inch dept. It’s mounted with two screws through the rear side. Mounting kit is enclosed the package. Hand carved leather wall hangers can be puechased as a add-on. Check out the pages ,How to mount´
PORTABLE BAR Limited Editons
ADVENTURES AHEAD 2020, ten years after the idea of Danish Fuel was born, we launched the portable bar cabinet. The demand to take a Bar Cabinet along with a bottle of champagne was required. After several attempts we finally archived the result as you see in the photos from Horseshoe Bend. Can you locate the Bar Cabinet on the photo?
Watch the video
Army green
/ oak
Gas red
/
oak
Nano black / walnut with hip flask
THE JEEP CAN We designed the portable bar cabinet with a special shelving system. Your bottles, cups and shaker set is fixed nicely to the cabinets wood interior.
As all our other cabinet designs, this outdoor bar Cabinet can be made on demand and customized for you. Your logo, color ect. Made in Denmark of authentic jerry cans with served military service.
The Jeep and jerry can were true Companions during the World War II To many people the jerry can is known as the jeep Can.
UNLIMITED
Edition TRIBUTE TO THE JERRY CAN The unlimited series is a tribute to the original Jerry Can from World War II. 1939 was the beginning of an era of the small can, later known as ,the can that won the war`. We finally made a Danish Fuel Jerry Can edition with our own embossments, made as close to the original 1939 German Jerry Can as possible. This unlimited version is not upcycled like our limited edition series. Only the limited edition series is made from authentic Military Jerry Cans. As we make this new unlimited series from brand new Jerry Cans, we will never be out of stock and can deliver much faster than the limited upcycled edtion series.
Our unlimited Jerry Can design, 2021. Made as a tribute to the German Einheits-Kanister. Designed in 1937. Launched in 1939.
Don’t deny yourself one
The bathroom cabinet door opens sideways, and it has a mirror at the inside
The bar cabinet door opens downward, and it has a wood plate for mixing drinks on it
Missile grey / walnut
Nano black / walnut
The nano black bar cabinet
The army green bar cabinet
make it personal, make it yours All our Danish Fuel cabinets are unique and comes with a ID. no. and certificate. The certificate is made of stainless steel and in a vintage designed tin box. A unique ID number of your choice is engraved into the certificate and embossed into the metal tag plate on the top of the Jerry Can. Debossments in all our limited edition jerry cans tell the origin, where it has been used, and during which time period. You can also check the original year of manufactoring. Your initials, name or logo laser engraved into the wood interior.
Your personal initials will be on the certificate. We´ll do what we can for your Can.
Choose your own unique ID number embossed into the metal tag plate.
Original design
HOW to mount
A tin box that contains a set of hand-carved leather wall hangers. It will take your best friend less than five minutes to mount the baror bathroom cabinet for you. The standard way of mount is with two screws through the rear side.
HOW TO maintenance
The wood shelves in the cabinets should be maintained with wood oil every 3 month. This is to give the wood a nice smooth surface and prevent the wood to dry.
TIME TO REFUEL - WITH GIN Only the best gin is good enough for the best bar cabinet. The Danish Fuel GINs are single batch gins, handmade at Nordisk Braenderi in Denmark. All botanicals used for the gins are handpicked in the Nordic regions. The gins are made with inspiration of distiller Anders Bilgrams travels in the Nordics. All bottles is signed and numbered. The design of the bottle is inspired by an old oil can. Our PREMIUM GIN is awarded with a Double Gold Medal at Fifty Best Gins in New York
Why Danish Fuel GINs? Because no fun night or deep conversation ever started with having a salad.
Hand crafted single batch danish gins, bottled in a appropriate vintage tin can
GIN-TLE MEn´S CHOICE Botanicals in the PREMIUM GIN: Fresh wild dog rose leaves, Greenland Suaasat, Swedish mulberries, Icelandic kvan seeds, buckthorn and Danish appel.
PREMIUM Gin 2*Gold Medal 44.8% Vol 0.5L
VINTAGE Gin London Dry 42% Vol 0.5L
Botanicals in the VINTAGE GIN: Raspberries, gooseberries, kvan, licorice, lemon thyme, lemon Salmon, chamomile and shelf flower.
H:12cm
Every soldier has a canteen as a part of his equipment. We found it more convenient to replace that canteen with a real fuel can hip flask that holds 100ml / 3.4 oz. Super easy pocket size. The design is inspired from the original jerry can. It’s made of stainless 304L steel. The lid is fixed to the flask, so you won’t risk losing it when drinking or refueling. Army green or nano black?
never low on fuel Or, another kind of fuel - when skiing, hiking, hunting, fishing or partying!
FINAL THOUGHTS At Danish Fuel we are not biased. We don’t try to glorify anyone who took part in the Second World War. We just like history and the designs that came from that time period. While developing the Danish Fuel brand we have spent many hours, days, weeks and years researching. The one thing we are truly impressed with, is the fact that the jerry can hasn’t been improved over the last seven decades - simply because of its brilliant original design. We took notice of this, as we came across it in our history class: After WWII, President Franklin Roosevelt acknowledged the pivotal role jerry cans played in an allied victory, stating: “Without these cans it would have been impossible for our armies to cut their way across France at a lightning pace which exceeded the German Blitzkrieg of 1940.” Such recognition pays serious tribute to the efficiency and safety of jerry cans, hinting at the role these containers would play in transportation for decades to come.
Say hello to my dad, Frank Who was on board from the very beginning, when Danish Fuel was at the startup point. He was the one who made the bending plywood for the cabinets, and much more. His many creative skills made him come up with the idea to make the bar cabinet and he also designed the bathroom cabinet. The picture is taken in spring 2013 outside the workshop.
Since 2010 Limited copies of this Danish Fuel Brand Book no. 9, only by invitation. Photos by Alexander Aliaksandrovich Vintage images under license from Heritage Motor Centre UK Styling by Alexander Aliaksandrovich & Danish Fuel Sales and Press enquiries shop@danishfuel.com T +455050 1616 www.danishfuel.com Social media @danishfuel Copyright 2021 Danish Fuel® of Denmark All designs shown in this brand book are protected under law. Danish Fuel and it´s official partner has the property rights to manufacture and sell all design products shown in this brand book, and holds the exclusive manufacturing and distribution rights world wide. Copying will be prosecuted.
Danish Fuel originals
A Jerry Can is a small metal can made for petrol, water, kerosene, gear oil and diesel. It was invented in 1937 to supply the troops during the Second World War. No one would have foretold which huge influence this small can would have the next seven decades. In 1944 more than 21 millions of Jerry Cans were scattered all over Europe. Nowaday, it´s still in service world wide by the Military and Civilians. The original name was Wehrmacht Einheits-Kanister. How did this small can became so popular, and how did it get it´s nick name, Jerry Can? Since 2010, we have studied the Jerry Can and it´s history. We have salvagede and upcycled thousands of Jerry Cans scrapped by the Army/Navy. The unique Jerry Can design from 1937 is well preserved in the Danish Fuel redesign from 2010. This brand book is a joyride for design lovers and history afficionados Made In Denmark by originals danishfuel.com
made in Denmark