Magnus L. Stephensen (b. Holte 1903, d. Helsingør 1984)
A pair of unique easy chairs with moulded, laminated mahogany frame. Seat and two-piece back upholstered with patinated original natural leather. Designed 1963. These examples made 1963 by cabinetmaker Ludvig Pontoppidan. (2)
Provenance: Magnus L. Stephensen's family. These two pieces are the only two ever made.
Presented at The Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' Guild Exhibition at Designmuseum Danmark, 1963.
Literature: Grete Jalk [ed.]: “40 Years of Danish Furniture Design”, vol. 4, mentioned p. 252.
Magnus L. Stephensen belong to a group of architects who in the 1930s were leading in the creation of a new modern aesthetics within Danish architecture. This group included his friends and partners Mogens and Flemming Lassen, Frits Schlegel and Vilhelm Lauritsen among others. The present chairs are two variations of the same basic model designed for Fritz Hansen in 1932. Here Stephensen utilized the steam moulding technique which had been the hallmark of Fritz Hansen ever since their establishment and combined it with a modern functional design. The characteristic sculptural wing-back was already used by Stephensen back in 1930 when he exhibited at the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' Guild Exhibition for Axel Søllner.
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Furniture and lamps, 5 March 2015