Armless AX Chair by Hvidt & Mølgaard for Fritz Hansen
Jason Cruz found this beautiful Fritz Hansen chair on Craigslist Providence and is seeking more information about the model and its designer.
He notes its similarity to another Fritz Hansen, the AX 6020 by Peter Hvidt and Orla Molgaard-Nielsen, produced in the late ’40s. It may be an armless version of the same model.
Any information on this chair is cordially invited in the comments below. Thank you!
Update: April 1, 2013 — Westportauction.com is offering this armless version of the Ax Chair on May 19, 2013.
Mystery Solved!
It is indeed a rarer armless version of the Hvidt & Mølgaard’s famous AX chair.
The chair was first manufactured in 1950 by Fritz Hansen and was constructed using Hansen’s process for laminate gluing, which was borrowed from a technique used to make tennis rackets. It was was exhibited in 1951 as part of the “Good Design” show at the MoMA.
Thanks to Amy Wikman at BJORK ANTIKT and M. Andersen from DesignAddict.com for help with IDing the chair!
Apparently there’s an even rarer version with just one arm! This from Fritz Hansen in Denmark:
The chair designed by Hvit and Molgaard was manufactored with and without arms and even with only one left arm or one right arm. The chair was discountinued from our program in the beginning of the sixties
Nice score Jason.
The “Ax” chair was also a very early example of flat-pack or knock-down furniture. The chairs were shipped in pieces and assembled in the US for Herman Miller, the distributor. They had nice details and did not use hardware, but had threaded stretchers and dowels. It’s mahogany and beech. The armless and one-arm chairs were intended for waiting areas, doctor’s offices and the like, where you could run a wall of chairs and make a seating area. And, to top it all off, they are actually very comfortable (I have two arm-chairs). There is also a very beautiful leather sling version. A reversible leather/wool seating surface slides along a track in the chair’s frame. One set screw holds it in place on each side.
Great blog, by the way.
Hi all,
Great info from this thread.
I have a version of this chair with arms bought from denmark a few years back. It does not seem to have the FH stamp on the base.
my question is “do i have an unauthorised copy?”
is the chair pictured in the background on this homepage available for sale?
no you dont have a copy. the mark under the seat is often vanished from the surface… its just a nink mark. I have both chairs – one with arms one without… one of them has a nearly non-visible ink mark..
On a side note, i think the chairs were made with srews/bolts into the sticks between the legs.
I have an armless version for sale in our May 19 2013 sale.