The Chieftain and the Chair: The Rise of Danish Design in Postwar America

by Maggie Taft

A history of how Danish design rose to prominence in the postwar United States, becoming shorthand for stylish modern comfort.

Today, Danish Modern design is synonymous with clean, midcentury cool. During the 1950s and ‘60s, it flourished as the furniture choice for Americans who hoped to signal they were current and chic. But how did this happen? How did Danish Modern become the design movement of the times? In The Chieftain and the Chair, Maggie Taft tells the tale of our love affair with Danish Modern design. Structured as a biography of two iconic chairs—Finn Juhl’s Chieftain Chair and Hans Wegner’s Round Chair, both designed and first fabricated in 1949—this book follows the chairs from conception and fabrication through marketing, distribution, and use.

Drawing on research in public and private archives, Taft considers how political, economic, and cultural forces in interwar Denmark laid the foundations for the postwar furniture industry, and she tracks the deliberate maneuvering on the part of Danish creatives and manufacturers to cater to an American market. Taft also reveals how American tastemakers and industrialists were eager to harness Danish design to serve American interests and how furniture manufacturers around the world were quick to capitalize on the fad by flooding the market with copies.

Sleek and minimalist, Danish Modern has experienced a resurgence of popularity in the last few decades and remains a sought-after design. This accessible and engaging history offers a unique look at its enduring rise among tastemakers.

 

Genres: Nonfiction

184 pages, Hardcover

Published May 22, 2023

Reviews

[Book Post Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In her new book The Chieftain and the Chair: The Rise of Danish Design in Postwar America, Maggie Taft sets out to tell the story of how we got from the 1949 Cabinetmakers Guild Exhibition in Copenhagen, where Juhl showed his chair, with its shield-shaped back, next to a pinboard of influences including a bow and a photograph of an African hunter with spear (Juhl’s “romantic—and colonizing—view of primitive authenticity”) to the handsome, if slightly generic, coffee table in my friend’s living room. Her story is not one of heroic artistic choices, but of compromises made for manufacturing at scale, successive counterfeits, the dispersal of a once-original style." -Alexandra Lange

Read the full review here: https://books.substack.com/p/review-a...

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book unpacks the global fascination with Danish design through the history of two iconic chairs, tracing how their rise in the United States helped propel Danish design onto the world stage.

The author delves deeply into the historical context surrounding Hans Wegner and Finn Juhl—including the impacts of war, migration, and postwar cultural exchange—offering a more well-rounded understanding of their design philosophies, inspirations, and craftsmanship.

A must-read for Danish design enthusiasts looking to deepen both their knowledge and appreciation.