Finn Juhl Poet Sofa for Niels Vodder, 1941

An admirer of modern art, Finn Juhl (1912–89) debuted a pair of his Poet sofas — originally created for his own home — at the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild furniture fair in 1941 alongside abstract plaster sculptures by Icelandic artist Sigurjón Ólafsson. While he aimed to produce functional pieces for small spaces, Juhl spent his formative years exploring the National Art Gallery of Denmark and wanted to make furniture that was expressive and interesting. Accompanying his work with art became a tradition for the pioneering Danish architect and designer, who helped introduce Scandinavian modernism to American shores.

Juhl attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and worked as an interior designer under Danish modern architect Vilhelm Lauritzen. Prior to garnering acclaim for his wood-framed chairs, Juhl’s handsome upholstered furniture was the order of the day. In collaborating with Niels Vodder— who manufactured the FJ41, or Poet sofa, named after Jørgen Mogensen’s comic strip — Juhl created alluring seating defined by organic curves and sculptural qualities that set it apart from the unadorned chairs of other Scandinavian modernist furniture makers such as Alvar Aalto.

Occupying sparse real estate, the diminutive two-seat Poet sofa was relaunched in 2001 by House of Finn Juhl, a company that is part of One Collection, which produces the sofa today. With its plush winged back and inwardly curving armrests covered in handwoven fabric, the piece offers little room between sitters. It’s as if the Poet sofa anticipates romance, or at least demands close conversation. Very close conversation.

Along with Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobsen and Børge Mogensen, Finn Juhl was one of the great masters of mid-20th-century Danish design. Juhl was the first among that group to have his work promoted overseas, bringing the character of the nation’s furnishings — and the inherent principles of grace, craftsmanship and utility on which they were based — to an international audience. 

A stylistic maverick, Juhl embraced expressive, free-flowing shapes in chair, credenzas and sofa designs much earlier than his colleagues, yet even his quietest pieces incorporate supple, curving forms that are at once elegant and ergonomic.

As a young man, Juhl hoped to become an art historian, but his father steered him into a more practical course of study in architecture. He began designing furniture in the late 1930s, a discipline in which, despite his education, Juhl was self-taught, and quite proud of the fact. 

Juhl’s earliest works, designed in the late 1930s, are perhaps his most idiosyncratic. The influence of modern art is clear in his 1939 Pelican chair: an almost Surrealist take on the classic wing chair. Critics reviled the piece, however; one said it looked like a "tired walrus." Juhl had tempered his creativity by 1945, when the workshop of Danish cabinetmaker Niels Vodder began to issue his designs. Yet Juhl’s now-classic NV 45 armchair still demonstrates panache, with a seat that floats above the chair’s teak frame.

Juhl first exhibited his work in the United States in 1950, championed by Edgar Kaufmann Jr., an influential design critic and scion of America’s most prominent family of modern architecture and design patrons. (Kaufmann’s father commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright’s design of the house “Fallingwater.”) 

Juhl quickly won a following for such signature designs as the supremely comfortable Chieftan lounge chair, the Judas table — a piece ornamented with stylish inlaid silver plaquettes — and the biomorphic Baker sofa. After an article authored by Kaufmann on Juhl and his work appeared in the U.S.-based magazine Interiors in 1948, he began receiving American commissions. 

Kaufmann commissioned Juhl to create the exhibition design for, and contribute pieces to, the 1951 edition of the Good Design shows he organized for MoMA and Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. Baker Furniture asked Juhl to design for the firm, and he produced a collection of chairs, tables and cabinets, and, later, the 1957 sofa. 

Scandinavian modernist seating, such as the chairs and sofas Juhl created for Baker, became immensely popular in postwar America, as the seeds of the Scandinavian style that Juhl sowed took root and spread in the United States. Juhl and his work featured prominently in the landmark show “Design from Scandinavia,” which opened in 1954 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and traveled to 24 museums in the U.S. and Canada; over three years, it was seen by more than a million people.

Juhl’s furniture — as well as his ceramics, tableware and accessories — has an air of relaxed sophistication and elegance that is unique in the realm of mid-century design.

Find vintage Finn Juhl armchairs, coffee tables, desks and other furniture for sale on 1stDibs.