Dining chair set "The Chair" by Hans J. Wegner

Hans J. Wegner is the undisputed master of the Danish chair. Born in Tønder in 1914, he trained as a cabinetmaker before studying at the Copenhagen School of Arts and Crafts, going on to design more than 500 chairs over a career that spanned six decades. His work distilled the principles of Danish Modernism to their essence: honest materials, craftsmanship made visible, and form in absolute service to the human body.

Designed in 1949 and first produced by Johannes Hansen, The Chair — formally the PP503 — is widely regarded as one of the most perfect chairs ever made. Its continuous curved back rail and arm, carved from solid wood and joined without visual interruption, achieve a sculptural unity that few objects in 20th-century design have matched. It entered global consciousness when it appeared at the 1960 Kennedy–Nixon presidential debate, the first televised debate in American history. Wegner's work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Design Museum Denmark, Copenhagen.