Juhl's 44-chair without reserve price

In 2012, one of the biggest names in Danish design history would have celebrated his 100th birthday, were he alive today, namely architect Finn Juhl. To mark the occasion, Jutlandic furniture manufacturer Onecollection has chosen to take up the challenge and relaunch his rarest chair – the “44-chair” or the “Bone chair”, as it is also known. The 100 chairs will be sold at Bruun Rasmussen’s international auction at Bredgade in early December.

How to bid on the chairs

• Place a bid at the preliminary online auction from Friday 11 November 2011.

• The 100 numbered chairs are divided into 44 catalogue numbers – bid on 1, 2, 4 or 6 chairs at a time.

• The chairs are being offered without a reserve price and commission. Please note, the chairs are newly produced, though they are being sold with full VAT.

• All 44-chairs come in a specially designed bag and box.

• The auction will end with a traditional auction Thursday 8 December at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen. The amounts achieved at the online auction will be the opening bids at this final live auction.

• Please note, that these chairs can be collected at Baltikavej 10 in Copenhagen from Monday 12 December at 11 am.

Furniture as a work of art

Finn Juhl created many chairs, but the “44-chair” remained his personal favourite. Here, for the first time, he conveyed the organic and sculptural mode of expression from his early fully upholstered furniture to the wood. Paradoxically, the construction of the chair exceeded what was possible to produce using the methods of craftsmanship of the day back in 1944.

The chair was an exceedingly beautiful, yet also extremely fragile chair – more a work of art than something that could actually be used. This was also one of the reasons why a modest number of just 12 chairs were produced.

In the recreation of the chair, its original beauty is united with proper functionality. Thanks to developments in both craftsmanship and technology, it is now possible to produce the chair in a sublime quality, which means that the new “44-chair” can actually be used.

Finn Juhl's furniture classics

Finn Juhl’s production was wide ranging – his most famous furniture classics include the “Chieftain” chair (1949), the “Pelican” chair (1940) and the “Poet” sofa (1941). He was quick to gain international renown, receiving no fewer than six gold medals at the Triennale in Milan. Many have even given his furniture the credit for raising international awareness of Danish furniture design, and Denmark’s reputation as a leading design nation in the early 1950s.

View and bid on the chairs here