Some brands sell furniture. A few sell chairs so famous that people recognise the silhouette before they know the name. Fritz Hansen belongs firmly in the second group. This Danish furniture house has been making chairs since 1872, and it is the manufacturer behind the Ant, the Series 7, the Swan and the Egg, four of the most recognisable pieces of twentieth-century design.
If you have ever sat on a moulded plywood chair in a café, or seen a rounded armchair in a hotel lobby, there is a good chance it was a Fritz Hansen design or a copy of one. This guide covers the company’s history, its landmark collaboration with Arne Jacobsen, and how to tell an original from an imitation.
A Copenhagen Cabinetmaker’s Workshop
The story starts with a cabinetmaker called Fritz Hansen, who set up a workshop in Copenhagen in 1872. Like many Danish furniture makers of the period, the business grew on craftsmanship rather than flash. Early on the firm became known for working with steam-bent wood, a technique that allows solid timber to be curved into flowing shapes without cutting it. That fascination with bending and moulding material would shape everything that came later.
Over the following decades the company passed through the family and grew into a serious manufacturer. By the 1930s it was ready for the partnership that would define it.
The Arne Jacobsen Partnership
The relationship between Fritz Hansen and the architect Arne Jacobsen began in the 1930s and produced a run of designs in the 1950s that still sell today. The key pieces:
- The Ant (1952) – a light stacking chair with a seat and back moulded from a single sheet of plywood, supported on slim steel legs. Its nipped-in “waist” gave it the insect nickname.
- Series 7 (1955) – a refinement of the Ant with a more generous, supportive shape and four legs. Built from layers of pressure-moulded veneer, it became one of the best-selling chairs in furniture history and is still the one most people picture when they think of a “Danish chair”.
- Grand Prix (1957) – a sleeker, more sculptural plywood chair, introduced at the height of the Jacobsen–Fritz Hansen partnership.
- The Egg and the Swan (1958) – two sculptural lounge chairs created for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, a building Jacobsen designed down to the cutlery and door handles.
How the Egg Was Made
The Egg is the showpiece. Its curved shell wraps around the sitter like, well, an egg, creating a private pocket of space even in a busy hotel lobby. Rather than being built the traditional way with a wooden frame, the chair uses a moulded shell structure covered in foam and upholstery, balanced on a swivelling aluminium base. It was a technical leap for furniture of the era, and it is said Jacobsen modelled the shape by hand in his own garage workshop before the design went into production.
The chair has appeared in countless films, magazine shoots and executive offices ever since. It remains one of the first pieces people name when asked about Danish modern design.
Why Series 7 Became a Global Standard
The Series 7 deserves special attention because of how widely it spread. Its stackable, lightweight form suited schools, canteens, offices and restaurants as well as homes. It has been produced in a huge range of colours, finishes and base options, including wood-veneer versions and fully upholstered ones. Few chairs have been so thoroughly copied, which is a sign of how right the proportions are.
That ubiquity is part of the point of Danish design: beautiful objects that work in everyday life rather than sitting behind a rope.
A House That Keeps Evolving
Fritz Hansen is not a museum of one designer’s work. Alongside the Jacobsen classics, the company continues to develop new pieces with contemporary designers, keeping the range alive rather than frozen in the 1950s.
It sits alongside other Danish makers that have shaped the field. The woodworking craft behind Hans Wegner’s famous chairs is a different but closely related tradition, while newer brands such as HAY and Muuto build on the same foundations for a younger audience. For lighting from the same golden age, see our guide to Louis Poulsen and the PH lamp.
Original or Copy? How to Tell
Because the Egg, Ant and Series 7 are so famous, imitations are everywhere. Some are honest budget alternatives; others are sold as “replicas” of a design that is still in production. A few things to check if you are buying:
- Look for the manufacturer’s mark. Genuine pieces carry identifying labels or stamps, and older ones are often dated. Buy from an authorised retailer or a reputable vintage dealer.
- Check the proportions. Copies often get the curves slightly wrong, with thicker shells, stiffer-looking backs or clumsy base joints.
- Feel the materials. A real Series 7 uses layered veneer shaped under pressure, and the finish should feel crisp and consistent. Egg upholstery should be tight, with neat seams.
- Be wary of price that looks too good. A new “Egg” at a fraction of the usual cost is unlikely to be the real thing.
- Vintage is its own market. Original mid-century chairs can be excellent buys, but check condition and provenance, and expect to pay more for early production runs.
Where to See Fritz Hansen Design in Person
You do not need to buy anything to enjoy these chairs. Copenhagen is full of them, in hotels, offices and public buildings. The city’s design museums display Jacobsen’s work alongside other Danish classics; our guide to the best Scandinavian design museums will help you plan a visit, and our Copenhagen city guide covers the rest of the trip. Many Danish cafés and homes also use Series 7 chairs as everyday seating, which is perhaps the best tribute of all.
The Lasting Appeal of Fritz Hansen
Fritz Hansen’s story shows how a craft workshop can grow into a global design house without losing its focus on making. The chairs work because they respect the person sitting in them: light, supportive, durable and quietly beautiful. More than seventy years after the Ant and Series 7 first appeared, they still look modern, which is the highest compliment you can pay a piece of design. If you are curious about how these ideas fit into today’s homes, our look at Nordic interior design trends is a good next stop.
Photo via Pexels.
