Pair of “Spade” Lounge Chairs by Finn Juhl

Finn Lynggaard studied painting and ceramics at the Royal College of Arts in Copenhagen, graduating in 1955. He shifted first from painting to ceramics, authoring a book on Raku technique, then to glass-making in 1970, and became known as the father of Danish studio glass. In 1985, he and his wife, glass artist Tchai Munch, founded the world’s first museum of glass in Ebeltoft Denmark. The museum’s collection of contemporary glass has over the years been established with the support of more than 700 internationally recognised glass artists from all-over the world. These artists have all generously donated or lent work to the collection, which today comprises more than 1500 objects.

Danish manufacturer France Søn is best known for its prolific output of elegant mid-century modern furnishings in teak and leather, yet its multinational beginnings took shape during the 1930s.

After businessman Charles William Fearnley France (1897–1972) moved from his native England to Denmark in 1936, he began to operate a small mattress factory alongside his friend Eric Daverkosen, a Danish cabinetmaker, under the name France Daverkosen. Shortly afterward, Daverkosen passed away, and when Denmark was invaded during the Second World War, Charles was captured and sent to a prison camp in Germany. When he was released, the British entrepreneur set out to produce furniture in the early 1950s, setting up a shop in Hillerød to manufacture the kind of sleek beech and teak goods that were gaining widespread acclaim around the world. In 1957, France’s son James joined the business, and the company changed its name to reflect the addition.

Throughout the ’50s and ’60s, France Søn produced a stunning array — and staggering quantity — of designs, with elegant modernist lounge chairs and armchairs, teak and rosewood dining tables and other furnishings by the likes of Finn Juhl, Grete Valk, Ole Wanscher, Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen all gracing its catalogues.

Even as there was a focus on mass production at France Søn — and the brand doesn’t quite enjoy the same renown as fellow mid-century Danish furniture makers such as Carl Hansen Søn — Charles France believed in making quality furniture, and the company’s offerings evoke the warmth of the handcrafted work that is typically associated with Scandinavian modernism.

In the 1960s, the company was bought by Danish designer Poul Cadovius, who folded it into the operations at CADO, a company he founded during the 1950s. Surviving examples of early work from the brand as well as modern icons by the likes of Verner Panton that followed in later years continue to be in demand.

Find a collection of France Søn furniture on 1stDibs.