France & Søn, Danish fireside chair in rosewood, 1962

France & Søn, manufacturer.
Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen et Tørben Lind, designers.

Danish fireside chairs in rosewood standing on four rectangular shape legs linked each other by four stretchers. The two back legs go higher until a transversal bar permitting to put the back on it. Seat and back covered with blue padded velvet.

Brand sticker on the fireside chairs frame.

Work realized in 1962.

Dimensions : H 72 x W 60 x D 71 cm.

Reference : LS3705B651

France & Søn was a Danish design company that created famous pieces from the 1950’s to the 1970’s by collaborating with great design names as Peter Hvidt, Finn Juhl or Arne Vodder. The company was founded in 1948 by the British business man Charles W. France and the Danish cabinetmaker Eric Daverkosen with the will to create mattresses. But in 1952 the company France & Daverkosen  install it near Copenhagen and turned to mass production of Danish furniture however still high quality. She notably did seats in light teak with cushions for seat and back.

In 1957, Julian France, Charles France’s son, joined the company and the name changed in France & Søn. Old pieces continued to be created with the original company name but every year new collections also came out signed with the old name of the company.

Between 1964 and 1967, the manufacturer Poul Cadovius bought France & Søn and named it CADO. However, old pieces of France & Søn continued to be produced and new collaborations fell into place with great designers as Verner Panton. The company closed at the end of the 1970’s.

France & Søn had a huge success thanks to its industrial teak work, impressive exploit at this period that permitted it to launch a true trend in scandinavian furniture. Moreover, his items could be disassembled in order to reduce shipping costs, permitting it to develop itself in Germany and in the United States.

Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen (1930-2009) was a Danish designer known for his “Moduline” collection he made in collaboration with Tørben Lind and his OGK daybed. After an apprenticeship with a cabinetmaker, he studied architecture at the Royal Danish school of Fine Arts and the furniture design at the Danish school of arts and crafts where he taught later from 1967 to 1990. In the 1970’s, he associated with the great Swedish low cost company IKEA by creating the Skopa chair in molded plastic.