Mogens Lassen Jager Lounge Table Natural Oak for Audo

Mogens Lassen’s reissued coffee table from 1941 profiles the beauty of wood and brass while drawing inspiration from ancient Egypt: the foldaway design takes its cues from folding st...

Hans J. Wegner’s CH327 6-person dining table from 1962 has an unusual design where the tabletop appears almost to be floating. It has a solid wood tabletop with softened edges and ro...

Hans J. Wegner’s CH327 6-person dining table from 1962 has an unusual design where the tabletop appears almost to be floating. It has a solid wood tableto...

CH008 consists of a round tabletop with three detachable, tapered legs which slant outwards. The rounded legs give the coffee table an elegant and almost floating look. For support, ...

Børge Mogensen coffee table in solid soap treated oak. Model 268, made by Fredericia Furniture.

Børge Mogensen coffee table in solid soap treated oak. Model 268, made by Fredericia Furniture.

Shaker table model 5267 for Danish Furniture makers in Fredericia, Denmark. Among the great mid-20th century Danish furniture designers, Børge Mogensen distinguished himself with his faith to traditional values of craftsmanship and honesty of materials. While peers such as Hans Wegner, Finn Juhl and Arne Jacobsen designed some of the most striking and now iconic furnishings of the era, Mogensen focused on making pieces that were simple, durable and comfortable — and in the long run perhaps more useful and better loved. Mogensen studied under and later worked for Kaare Klint, a master cabinetmaker whose chief tenets were quality of construction and simplicity of line. Klint was a classicist, who believed that furniture forms should evolve from those of historical models. So, too, in his way was Mogensen, as two of his best-known earlier pieces attest. His 1945 Spokeback Sofa, with hinged arms that can be lowered to facilitate lounging, is a reinterpretation of the venerable Knole settee. With the oval silhouette of its plywood backrest and waterdrop-shaped cutouts, Mogenson’s Shell chair, designed in 1949, can be seen as a novel take on early 19th century Empire side chairs. Yet Mogensen shared the aesthetical sensibilities of his most forward-looking colleagues. His cabinets deploy the same spare geometries and lushly figured woods as those of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and his disciple Florence Knoll, the chief difference being that Mies and Knoll used...

Illum Wikkelsø coffee table in solid soap treated oak. Made by Mikael Laursen, Århus.