Simple, functional, quality, everyday furniture made of wood that was intended to be used in the daily lives of Danes – that was the goal of Børge Mogensen’s work. Many Danes have experienced Børge Mogensen’s design firsthand, because Mogensen’s furniture has appointed public spaces and private residences in Denmark over the past 70 years. The sets of furniture from FDB, the teak furniture from Søborg Møbelfabrik, the chair from Fredericia Stolefabrik and, most especially, the set of furniture called Øresund, are not only narratives about a brilliant furniture designer, they also represent the history of the development of the Danish welfare state.

In the exhibition Trapholt shows designs and commercials  from the very young Børge Mogensen furniture program for the Fællesforeningen af Danmarks Brugsforeninger (FDB). When he was 28, Mogensen was hired with a view towards developing a furniture concept featuring practical, simple, straightforward furniture. FDB’s vision to create honest, sound furniture was partially a result of a problematic housing situation, where many apartments were of limited size, but was also part of a larger international modernist movement, where dwellings were part of an important societal transformation process. At that time, it was the individual who was the central consideration, rather than the actual furniture, which informed the fitting and arrangement of interiors.

Børge Mogensen’s designs spoke to people of modest means, who sought quality without lavishness, such as the total outfitting of Løgumkloster Refugium, and also to intellectual customers who were aware of the ideological intention behind the furniture, as well as the exclusive genuine leather furniture available in the higher price range. Mogensen’s iconic piece, the Spanish Chair, is considered to be the pinnacle of his life’s work, with its characteristic combination of fine, natural materials executed in a very expressive, yet extremely restrained idiom.

During the period 1939 to 1963, the annual exhibition hosted by the Danish Cabinetmakers Guild served as a playground for Børge Mogensen’s experiments, which later became modified for production. In the round gallery, you can see Mogensen’s contributions to these exhibitions over twenty-four years. As an extension of the Cabinetmakers Guild’s exhibition in 1962, a turbulent controversy broke out, which had to do with the definition of Danish design. In his contribution to the debate, Mogensen criticized his contemporary colleagues for not being loyal to the Danish
tradition. This lead to a year-long debate about Danish tradition, its roots in Kaare Klint’s school of furniture, and the quality of the design of that time. During the same period, Mogensen’s spoke back sofa from 1945 was re-launched by Fritz Hansen as the “most Danish” of all sofas. Does a ‘true’ Danish design exist? We will let the visitors decide.

The exhibition is open until 19 october 2014.