The 1950s

1950 Finn Juhl participates in the Contemporary Danish Architecture as well as the Handcraft Guild, both exhibitions are held in London. In Denmark he begins designing private projects such as Mrs. Anthon Petersen's vacation home in Asserbo.

Enjoying the support of his friend, Edgar Kaufmann Jr., director of the Department of Industrial Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), Finn Juhl makes his debut in the US. The stellar quality and the organic shapes are unprecedented in the US at the time and Finn Juhl's furniture thus becomes a symbol of good taste and individualism in the culturally aware and well-educated circles.

1951 Finn Juhl is appointed as chief designer and architect at the exhibition Good Design in Chicago. In the same year, the Academic Council at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts tasks Finn Juhl with what will become his most prominent and famous design manifestation - the complete furnishing and design of the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York. The chamber becomes an important milestone in coining the international term known as Danish Modern. Today the chamber is most commonly referred to as the "Finn Juhl Chamber".

In 1951 Finn Juhl also initiates a partnership with Baker Furniture, Inc. in Grand Rapids, Michigan. With a range of furniture including The Baker Sofa and The Cocktail Table, Finn Juhl defines the company's modern style of design. During this period Finn Juhl is increasingly inspired by the American lifestyle and his American design colleagues. This is expressed in the following years, when he designs furniture pieces that incorporates streamlined shapes, steel pipes and multi-colored drawers.

1952 The Trusteeship Council Chamber is inaugurated and the world opens its eyes to Finn Juhl. He participates in the Angewandte Kunst aus Dänemark exhibition in Zürich, Switzerland, re-designs Georg Jensen's Fifth Avenue store in New York and designs a room with his furniture at the National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in Trondheim, Norway. The room is still part of the permanent exhibition at the museum.

In Denmark he designs timber merchant Mr. Aubertins family home in Nakskov.

1953 Finn Juhl's career takes off and due to his new international network he incrincreasingly begins to draw on inspiration from abroad. He spends more and more of his time working abroad and partaking in international exhibitions, mainly in the US. Edgar Kaufmann Jr. introduces Finn Juhl to influential people from the cultural scene, among them Charles Eames and George Nelsson.

Despite the fact that the recognition of Finn Juhl does not manifest itself in a similar matter in Denmark, he launches a range of furniture with the Danish company Bovirke, inspired by his new international perspective.

Denmark is facing an industrialization of furniture production and the potential of new materials is being realized. Finn Juhl becomes an advocate for industrial production of Danish furniture and voices his criticism of the dependency on joiners in the Danish furniture tradition.

During the same year, Finn Juhl and the furniture producer France & Daverkosen, situated in Hillerød, Denmark, launch a collaboration which ends up lasting until 1969.

At one point during the mid-50s the company accounts for 60 percent of the total Danish furniture export. The company exports mainly to the US, but also to Germany and England where the company has a large showroom situated on Bond Street in London.

1954 Finn Juhl participates in the Home of Furniture exhibition in Copenhagen, marking the 400th anniversary of the Cabinetmakers' Guild. He is also on display at Georg Jensen's 50-year anniversary exhibition at the Danish Museum of Decorative Art (today Design Museum Denmark). Additionally, he curates the exhibition Fifty Years of Danish Silver in London, an exhibition that will travel to Washington D.C., Louisville, Dallas and St. Louis in the following years.

In 1954 Finn Juhl also designs the Danish stand at the 10th Triennale in Milan, for which he is awarded an honorary diploma.

1955 Finn Juhl designs the cinema of Villabyerne in Vangede, Denmark, and receives a diploma from the municipality of Gentofte. He also designs the offices of France & Son in Hillerød. 

In Sweden he designs a showroom apartment for the H55 exhibition (the 1955 world's fair in Helsingborg). 

1956 Finn Juhl is on display at the Neue Form aus Dänemark. This exhibition travels to eight German cities and Vienna, Austria.

Up until 1961 Finn Juhl also designs 14 Scandinavian Airlines ticket offices throughout Europe and Asia, as well as the interior of their DC-8 airplanes. In Toronto, he designs the Georg Jensen store.

1957 The longstanding collaboration with master joiner Niels Vodder comes to an end. It remains uncertain what the underlying reason is. However, Finn Juhl's frequent partnerships with various furniture producers and his interior assignments are likely two of the causes. 

Finn Juhl relocates his office from Nyhavn 33 to Sølvgade 38 in Copenhagen. The partnership with Georg Jensen continues and he re-designs the company's store on New Bond Street in London in collaboration with architect Trevor Dannatt.

Finn Juhl designs the 57 Sofa for Bovirke and it is presented in the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. Additionally, Finn Juhl participates in the 11th Triennale in Milan, where he is awarded a gold medal.

In the next part of the serialized newsletter you can read about Finn Juhl's final participation at the Cabinetmakers' Guild Exhibition and his work as a visiting professor at the Institute of Design in Chicago.

Best regards

House of Finn Juhl