Chieftain and the Chair: The Rise of Danish Design in Postwar America

"In this lively book, Maggie Taft tells the story of how Danish modern furniture emerged in the wake of WWII and became all the rage in the US. By the 1950s Danish Modern furniture was everywhere-in living rooms and on the political stage. A Danish Modern chair was chosen for the first televised presidential debate, in 1960, between JFK and Richard Nixon. When the broadcast began, there were Nixon and Kennedy, sleekly seated in Hans Wegner's "Round Chair." Thanks to that broadcast, an international star,nicknamed simply "the Chair," was born. The story of Danish Modern that Taft tells is anchored in the biographies of two notable chairs: "the Chair" and another one known rather grandly as "The Chieftain" (based on Viking folklore) designed by Finn Juhl.Like Nixon and Kennedy, like Buckley and Vidal, like Elvis and the Beatles, these chairs and their designers and manufacturers duked it out for the hearts and minds and rumps of Americans sitting in front of their TV sets, drinking cocktails, getting frisky on the Danish sofas in their living rooms (and, yes, Mad Men fans, in their offices). These chairs serve as the opportunity for Taft to tell the broader tale of our love affair with Danish Modern-and with our continuing admiration for the innovative style of the early postwar period"--
A history of how Danish design rose to prominence in the postwar United States, becoming shorthand for stylish modern comfort. Today, Danish Modern design is synonymous with clean, midcentury cool. During the 1950s and ‘60s, it flourished as the furniture choice for Americans who hoped to signal they were current and chic. But how did this happen? How did Danish Modern become the design movement of the times? In The Chieftain and the Chair, Maggie Taft tells the tale of our love affair with Danish Modern design. Structured as a biography of two iconic chairs—Finn Juhl’s Chieftain Chair and Hans Wegner’s Round Chair, both designed and first fabricated in 1949—this book follows the chairs from conception and fabrication through marketing, distribution, and use. Drawing on research in public and private archives, Taft considers how political, economic, and cultural forces in interwar Denmark laid the foundations for the postwar furniture industry, and she tracks the deliberate maneuvering on the part of Danish creatives and manufacturers to cater to an American market. Taft also reveals how American tastemakers and industrialists were eager to harness Danish design to serve American interests and how furniture manufacturers around the world were quick to capitalize on the fad by flooding the market with copies. Sleek and minimalist, Danish Modern has experienced a resurgence of popularity in the last few decades and remains a sought-after design. This accessible and engaging history offers a unique look at its enduring rise among tastemakers.