Design Story
Design
Arne Jacobsen designed the “Swan” and the “Egg” in 1958 for the lounge area of the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. According to legend, the designer was inspired by nature and especially by the many magnificent swans in the city. Thus, the armrests and the backrest resemble the body shape of the majestic birds. The entire seat is made of plastic and polyurethane foam and is upholstered in high quality fabric or leather. It rests on a rotating star aluminium base and tilts with the movement of the user. The Swan Chair by Fritz Hansen with its inviting shape ensures high seating comfort and relaxation while reading and sitting together with family, friends or work colleagues. An absolute design classic, the Arne Jacobsen armchair is just at home in the living room, home office, company reception areas or hotel lobbies.
Architecht and designer Arne Jacobsen
Manufacturer
Fritz Hansen, also known for a while under the name ‘Republic of Fritz Hansen’, was originally founded in 1896 near Copenhagen as a carpentry workshop. Over time, the company has not only passed down from generation to generation, but slowly evolved from a small family business into a major furniture manufacturer. Today, Fritz Hansen is one of the most important representatives of Scandinavian design. The Danish company has always worked with renowned designers and architects, and its portfolio reads like a catalogue of design classics and furniture history. The manufacturer is based in Allerød, Denmark.
Elegant handwork: Swan Chair from Fritz Hansen
Historical Context
In the years 1956-1960, SAS (Scandinavian Airlines) commissioned architect and designer Arne Jacobsen to design the 5-star SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. Jacobsen’s overall concept included both the building and the entire interior. To this end he studied contrasts, scale, interior and exterior, materials and shapes and designed a geometric steel and glass building, where the interior design focused on warm materials and colours: from the lobby to the restaurant to the rooms, the hotel has been furnished with furniture and lights in soft organic shapes. Architecturally, the building is to be assigned to the international style, which developed in the decades between 1920 and 1980 in Europe and finally took influence worldwide. Due to the many changes in the building and the interior, the SAS Royal Hotel is now considered a lost masterpiece by the designer Arne Jacobsen; however, Fritz Hansen and Louis Poulsen still produce seating and lighting objects according to Jacobsen’s original designs. Many museums and private collections also possess objects from the time of the creation of the hotel.
The Swan by Arne Jacobsen
Designer
Arne Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen in 1902 and studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In the 1950s, he was commissioned to design the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, creating a Gesamtkunstwerk, from furniture and textiles to cutlery, nothing was left to chance in the project. His lights and seating in particular helped Arne Jacobsen become widely known, including the Series 7, the best-selling and most frequently copied chair in the history of Scandinavian furniture design. The majority of Arne Jacobsen lamp designs, which today enjoy classic status thanks to their elegant form and functionality, are currently being sold by Louis Poulsen. The work of the designer is assigned to functionalism and is characterized in particular by their organic design language, which is reminiscent of flora and fauna. Arne Jacobsen died on March 24th 1971 in Denmark.
The Fritz Hansen HQ in Allerød, Denmark
Production
The prototypes of the Fritz Hansen armchair “Swan” and “Egg” were created in Arne Jacobsen’s garage north of Copenhagen and were designed using plastic, as this proved to be more malleable than plywood. At the same time, other designers such as Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen were similarly experimenting with both plywood and fibreglass furniture. The Swan Chair was created in 1958 and was considered an innovation at that time, because the seat shell had only rounded shapes and included both seat and backrest as well as armrests. The structure of the Fritz Hansen armchair is made of steel and is covered with cold foam, the backrest is made of fibreglass-reinforced polyurethane. A cool contrast is the star-shaped aluminium base. Today the Swan, is available in a wide variety of fabrics and leather variants. The Arne Jacobsen design classic has always been produced in series by Fritz Hansen.
A hotel room designed by Arne Jacobsen with Egg and Swan Chairs
AJ table light in SAS Royal Hotel Copenhagen