10_ScanMag_76_May_2015_Q9_Scan Magazine 1 06/05/2015 18:17 Page 15
Scan Magazine | Design | Onecollection
ning of a spectacular event in Danish design, the revival of Finn Juhl’s furniture designs. Impressed by Onecollection’s work, Hanne Wilhem Hansen decided to give the company the rights to reproduce Finn Juhl’s furniture, some of which like The Pelican, which by then existed in only a couple of handmade units from the 1940's and '50s. The two self-confessed furniture nerds were beyond ecstatic, but not everyone shared their conviction. “When we first exhibited a Juhl sofa at a furniture show, there wasn’t one single Danish furniture trader who believed in it. We were told outright: you’re not going to be able to sell that. But slowly we started building a network of dedicated, quirky design traders,” says Sørensen. Eventually, the rest of the design world jumped on the bandwagon and today much of Juhl’s furniture is like The Pelican, flying on the wings of love from design fans all over the world.
Finn Juhl’s armchair The Pelican turns 75 and to celebrate Onecollection has launched a special artwork edition with new upholstering designed by one of the chair’s contemporaries, the world famous Danish artist Asger Jorn.
Jorn, in a piece of 'art within art', a new platform between art and furniture. Juhl and Jorn were children of the same era. Finn Juhl was a pioneer as the first furniture designer who took an artistic approach to his trade. He found huge inspiration in modern art of the 1930s. The Pelican is an excellent example of this: its soft organic form practically appears as a sculpture. Jorn was an extremely versatile artist, working in painting, drawing, ceramics, printing, sculpture and as a writer. He is seen as one of the most important Danish artists of the 20th century. But even though Juhl and Jorn worked in different fields, they knew each other and without a doubt inspired each other. To Daniel Schou, creative director at Domicileculture, who has been granted the rights from Museum Jorn to produce textiles with Asger Jorn's designs, the new Pelican upholstery is a dream come
true. “To me, Finn Juhl is synonymous for quality craftsmanship and unique aesthetics. He is the perfect match for Asger Jorn's artwork," Daniel Schou explains.
For more information, please visit: www.onecollection.com
Reviving Finn Juhl Like all of Finn Juhl’s furniture, The Pelican’s revival has come about largely thanks to the hard work of Henrik Sørensen and Ivan Hansen. After a decade within the industry they established Onecollection in Sørensen’s mother’s laundry room in Odense in 1990. In the following years they built up a furniture collection by contemporary Danish designers as well as a reputation for their dedicated and quality conscious approach to furniture. Then, in 1998, rather out of the blue, Ivan Hansen and Henrik Sørensen received a call from Hanne Wilhelm Hansen, the widow of Finn Juhl. She asked them to help her remake a model of Finn Juhl’s Sofa 57 for an exhibition in honour of the architect. The phone call was the begin-
Issue 76 | May 2015 | 15