150 years of Fritz Hansen
Fritz Hansen A/S has been operating as Republic of Fritz Hansen since 2000. The company made Danish design a household name. World-famous architects Hans J. Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, as well as designer Poul Kjærholm, founded the global success of the Fritz Hansen company, based in Allerød, north of Copenhagen. The fact that significant archaeological remains from the late Paleolithic period have been found in Allerød is coincidence or fate, but in any case speaks to the magic of the place. Fritz Hansen furniture is sold in over 85 countries and 2,000 stores, from New York to Tokyo. Worldwide, 260 employees work for Fritz Hansen, manufacturing and distributing furniture and lighting (as of 2022). The carpenter Fritz Hansen founded the eponymous company in 1872 in Denmark. After Arne Jacobsen followed young and now established designers, such as Kasper Salto and Jaime Hayon.
In the beginning was the chair - design in wood and steel
On October 24, 1872 Fritz Hansen acquired a trade license, and two years later the carpenter founded the company. His own designed chair became successful: an office chair with a backrest made of plywood. In 1899, his son Christian Edvard Hansen took over the management of the company at the age of only 25. Fritz Hansen died only three years later (1902). From 1910, the company is granted exclusive rights to produce Thonet furniture for the Scandinavian market. Thus, in addition to wood, steel becomes an integral part of the Danish Fritz Hansen brand. Along the way, the bentwood technique is perfected more and more. In 1932, grandsons Søren Christian and Poul Fritz Hansen are appointed co-directors. The brothers were enthusiastic about modern functionalism. After World War II, the collaboration with Arne Jacobsen was intensified; the most famous chairs were launched in the 1950s, the Ant™ chair and the 7™ series. From 1960 followed the total work of art SAS Royal Hotel with the armchair Egg™, the Chair Swan™ and the Drop™ chair, among others. The Fritz Hansen table series was designed by Piet Hein and Bruno Mathsson, in addition to Arne Jacobsen. However, the oval table Super-Elliptical™ and the round table Super-Circular™ did not earn the fame of Arne Jacobsen's chairs. In 1979, Skandinavisk Holding took over three-quarters of the family business - further capital was needed to realize new ideas and designs. Managing Director (CEO) of the Republic of Fritz Hansen is Jacob Holm since 1998.
Design by Fritz Hansen: From wooden furniture to modern light
In 2005, Fritz Hansen additionally turned to the subject of light and took over the also successful lighting manufacturer Lightyears, for which, among others, the designer Cecilie Manz is active. The famous desk lamp Kaiser idell™ with the Bauhaus design of 1930 is also produced by Fritz Hansen. The Danish company produces a wide variety of lamps, including pendant lamps, desk lamps, wall lamps, floor lamps and table lamps. Among the modern designs, the Fritz Hansen Avion™ pendant lamp certainly stands out, deliberately reminiscent of a zeppelin - a design by designers Aleksej Iskos and Boris Berlin. One can be curious about the next 150 years of the Danish brand...
