Finn Juhl FJ46 Armchair by Niels Vodder

Finn Juhl designed the FJ46 armchair in 1946 and exhibited it at the Guild Exhibition that year. It became one of the iconic designs that inspired danish modern. Within Finn Juhl’s work, many designs look back to elements of the FJ46 for their inspiration because it is one of the few pieces that is an uncompromising feat of sculpture in wood, so over the years he tried to recapture the beauty without the absurd expense. The backrest and serpentine stiles of the Chieftain are reminiscent, as an example.

In February of 1945, while Finn was still working at Vilhelm Lauritzen’s studio during the war, Finn designed the precursor, drawing #61, for a commission at Dansk Superfos. The Friday before it was designed was when the news of the day would have been that the War was soon to be over because the Red Army was only 43 miles outside of an undefended Berlin; and the Allied heads of state met just a few days later to decide the future political divisions of Europe. So it very much appears that drawing #61, as the masterpieces in the series of some 80 drawings, was Finn Juhl’s celebration of the news of the imminent end of the War. It was also briefly produced by Johannes Hansen for the public as a Lauritzen design, Legally copyright was owned by the firm because Finn Juhl was an employee of the firm drawing it for his job, despite the fact that it was, artistically, all Finn Juhl. Seeing that Finn was so close to the final FJ46 design in 1945, it is perhaps worth wondering why it did not appear in the 1945 Guild booth? I would propose that the brief production by Johannes Hansen is the answer.

The most obvious derivation is the nearly look-alike BO72 armchair that Finn designed for Carl Brørup in 1949 or 1950. The principal simplification was separating the seat upholstery into its own unit as a plywood shell, allowing for a number of them to be stacked while awaiting orders. It is also possible that the BO72 could have been built into two completely finished side assemblies, like the FJ45, and then glued together after the upholstery was done. While the FJ46’s legs were likely hand turned in segments with a large faceplate (a somewhat terrifying proposition, but done right, safe), the BO72 was designed for production with a copying lathe. (The BO63 side chair designed in 1947 for Carl Brørup is the other obvious derivation).

The FJ48 armchair or the Chieftain (FJ49) are also interesting counter examples, because in both cases you can see this same industrial simplification of the detached plywood seat. In the case of the FJ48, the backrest is also fully detached. Finn’s first concept of the Chieftain, which he detailed in a watercolor in May of 1949, was to use a detached seat, but not plywood, rather a wooden frame with a sprung center, itself a throwback to the historical and time consuming wooden frame and jute webbing of the FJ46 seat. Yet even the first Chieftains made by Niels Vodder were simplified to a plywood seat. All of this is an illustration to show that the FJ46 was always Niels Vodder’s most masterpiece chair. For Finn Juhl, who was always a designer of interiors into which he put much of his own furniture, a balance between sculpture and utility was important. The FJ46 was the desk chair of reference and frequently contrasted with the utility steel legged Nyhavn desk (a prime example of this is Charles France’s office)

Designer: Finn Juhl
Maker: Niels Vodder
Model: FJ46
Year of Design: 1946
Year of Production: circa 1957
Price: on asking