Table Meets Chair

One winter, my husband and I were back in Copenhagen on the furniture hunt. It was right after Christmas and the entire city was relatively calm and quiet. The air was cold but fresh and crisp. As we have been spoiled California residents for a while, we got out of the car, complained about the cold weather as usual, and stormed into the furniture showroom near the harbor.

We went separate ways. I walked into the dining section and saw a wooden table with an extremely slim tabletop and legs. Many dining tables we looked at in the US had a beautiful wooden tabletop but unfortunately clunky leg design. This table had the perfect lines that I was picturing and beautifully designed joints. It was far outside our price range so we only took a picture of it and took off the showroom.

We later found out that it was called Arco Slim Table designed by a talented Dutch designer, Bertjan Pot, who is famous for the unique techniques and use of materials. The thinness is achieved by the steel and oak veneer sandwich construction. We searched for more tables but nothing could beat this one. Now we needed perfectly matched chairs.

Another winter in Copenhagen, we were back in the city for the chair hunt. I liked Eames Chair very much but it felt like every design friend had that chair. My husband wanted something unique and suggested the Elbow Chair designed by Hans J. Wegner. I liked the chair, too on the picture so we went to find it.

We visited almost all the furniture stores in Copenhagen but we couldn’t find any Elbow Chairs. Instead, the Wishbone chair, also designed by Wegner, was everywhere. We sat in the Wishbone Chair to rest. It was nice and comfortable. My husband said, “this reminds me of the furniture in my grandparents house.” So we kept looking.

At the last stop, we finally found the Elbow Chair. We were happy and exhausted. It was like sitting in a king’s chair. We sat down and there was something wrong. It was beautifully designed chair but sadly uncomfortable. The backrest was too low and the leaning angle was too straight, and there was not enough seating space even for my small Japanese hip size.

No wonder why this chair was difficult to find. Maybe Master Wegner designed this chair not to be seated but only to be looked at… We had the second look at the Wishbone Chair that was sitting near the Elbow Chair. The chair was light and durable. And most importantly, it was the most ergonomic chair we have sat down during our chair hunt journey.

After we came back home to NorCal, we looked at the Wishbone Chair again. The more I looked at it and the more I read about it, the more I fell in love with the chair. The chair is made with sustainable solid wood and paper cords, carefully handcrafted and assembled. We liked the contrast of the black Wishbone Chair with the light oak of the Arco Slim Table. We imported them all the way from Denmark thinking that they will be our dining set for a lifetime.

The chair we have been ignoring the whole time was ‘the one.’ It’s funny but a life is sometimes like that. Now, it’s a favorite nap spot for Uni.

Greetings in Japanese

春だというのに珍しく気候の移り変わりが激しく、今年のベイエリアは、寒くなったり暖かくなったりの連続です。そんな寒さとは比べものにならないデンマークの冬のお話。クリスマスが一大イベントとなっているデンマークには、毎年そのころ帰国しますが、中でも家具屋巡りが恒例となっています。古くなったダイニングセットを買い換えようと、肌を突き抜けるほど寒いコペンハーゲンを歩く中、何件もの家具屋をハシゴしやっと巡りあえたのが、最近注目度の高いオランダ出身のデザイナー、Bertjan PotによるArco Slim Tableと２０世紀の北欧デザインの巨匠ハンス・J・ウェグナーによるWishbone Chairでした。明るいオークでできたモダンなテーブルと、黒のウィッシュボーンチェアのコントラストがお気に入りです。今では愛犬ウニが日向ぼっこした後、クールダウンするお昼寝の場所ともなっています。詳しくは、本文で。