In its distinctive embodiment of the East-meets-West dialogue represented in mid-century modern art and design, the Japan chair draws on the simple silhouette of the famed Itsukushima Shrine near Hiroshima, Japan. Designed by legendary Danish architect, interior designer and furniture maker Finn Juhl (1912–89) and produced by furniture manufacturer France Søn, the chair belongs to a series that includes a two-seater sofa, a three-seater sofa and a footstool.

Although he originally wanted to study art history, Juhl’s father urged him to enroll in the architecture school at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He spent a decade thereafter working for Vilhelm Lauritzen’s architecture firm, where Juhl specialized in interior design. He went on to open his own firm in 1945, establishing himself among a group of young Danish designers who sought to reinvent the national design zeitgeist. The result was the Scandinavian modernism movement beloved by many today.

For his 1957 Japan chair, Juhl adopted the elegant form of a Japanese Torii, integrating its shape into the piece’s exposed low-slung wood frame and tapered legs, which support a minimalist upholstered backrest and seat. While many mid-century designers had the future in mind, Juhl looked to the past. Today the Japan chair, along with Juhl’s entire body of work, is produced exclusively by the House of Finn Juhl, an offshoot of Danish furniture company One Collection. His designs are particularly popular in Japan; there is a replica of his home in the city of Gifu and a House of Finn Juhl hotel in the village of Hakuba, near Nagano.