Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' Guild Exhibition
Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' Guild Exhibition (Danish: Københavns Snedkerlaugs Møbeludstilling) was an annual furniture exhibition and competition held from 1927 to 1966 that served as an well-known institution of Danish Design and a vehicle for the emergence of the Danish Modern art movement.{{Cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Per H.|date=September 2004|title=The Construction of a Brand: The Case of Danish Design, 1930–1970 (working paper)|url=http://www.ebha.org/ebha2004/papers/6D3.doc|journal=EBHA-Conference}}{{Cite book|last=Hollingsworth|first=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sgl3fgfQewUC|title=Danish Modern|date=September 2009|publisher=Gibbs Smith|isbn=978-1-4236-1359-6|pages=34–35|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last=Hansen|first=Per H.|date=2006|title=Networks, Narratives, and New Markets: The Rise and Decline of Danish Modern Furniture Design, 1930–1970|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/business-history-review/article/abs/networks-narratives-and-new-markets-the-rise-and-decline-of-danish-modern-furniture-design-19301970/BD09B22170FB6FE4DAAD7F9508771A07|journal=Business History Review|language=en|volume=80|issue=3|pages=449–483|doi=10.1017/S0007680500035868|s2cid=155894783|issn=2044-768X}} Many recognizable icons of Danish Modern were first unveiled as prototypes at the exhibition, including Hans Wegner's Round Chair,{{Cite book|last=Rybczynski|first=Witold|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6nF_CwAAQBAJ&q=exhibition|title=Now I Sit Me Down: From Klismos to Plastic Chair: A Natural History|date=2016-08-23|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0-374-71335-5|pages=147|language=en}} Aksel Bender Madsen and Ejnar Larsen's Metropolitan chair,{{Cite web|date=2007-11-11|title=Axel Bender Madsen & Ejnar Larsen|url=https://www.berlingske.dk/content/item/524691|access-date=2020-12-09|website=Berlingske.dk|language=da}} Børge Mogensen's Spokeback Chair,{{Cite web|title=1911–1950|url=https://www.fredericia.com/about-us/history/1911-1950.aspx|access-date=2020-12-09|website=www.fredericia.com}} and Finn Juhl’s Chieftain Chair.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tuWYDwAAQBAJ|title=Chairs: 20-Century Classics|date=2012-09-01|publisher=Fox Chapel Publishing|isbn=978-1-60765-411-7|language=en}}
History
The Exhibition was originally created out of fear that the Danish cabinetmaking craft industry would not be able to compete with more affordable furniture imports (primarily from Germany). After the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers Guild failed to lobby the Danish government to limit furniture imports, the organization established the exhibition to in order to increase awareness of the traditional craft and dissuade consumer from purchasing the cheaper imports.{{Cite web|last=Hansen|first=Per H.|title=Danish Modern|url=http://gallerifeldt.dk/blog/danish-modern-by-per-h-hansen/|access-date=2020-12-06|website=gallerifeldt.dk}}{{Cite book|last=Mussari|first=Mark|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_gupCwAAQBAJ|title=Danish Modern: Between Art and Design|date=2016-06-16|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4742-2369-0|pages=21–22|language=en}}
The event sought to foster greater collaboration and experimentation between master cabinetmakers and architects.{{Cite web|title=The Møbelsnedker in Denmark|url=https://www.phillips.com/article/5748478/the-m%C3%B8belsnedker-in-denmark|access-date=2020-12-05|website=Phillips|language=en}} In some cases, these pairs established long-term working relationships, including Hans J. Wegner and Johannes Hansen, Finn Juhl and Niels Vodder, Ole Wanscher and A.J. Iversen, Jacob Kjær and Peder Moos, and Kaare Klint and Rud Rasmussen. In 1933, a design competition was added to the event format.
When American journalists attended the event the first time in 1949, their report of the event was the first coverage Danish Modern in the American media and helped foster international hype for the design trend in the 1950s.{{Cite book|last=Rybczynski|first=Witold|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6nF_CwAAQBAJ|title=Now I Sit Me Down: From Klismos to Plastic Chair: A Natural History|date=2016-08-23|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0-374-71335-5|pages=148|language=en}} The Cabinetmakers' Guild held its final exhibition in 1966 after a decline in Danish furniture and few cabinetmakers remained in Copenhagen to sustain it.{{Cite book|last=Olesen, Christian Holmsted|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/877852234|title=Wegner : just one good chair|others=Wegner, Hans J., 1914–2007, Mussari, Mark, Gylling, Martin, Pedersen, Birgit Lyngbye, Designmuseum Danmark.|year=2014|isbn=978-3-7757-3809-5|location=Copenhagen|pages=84|oclc=877852234}}
Revival
In 1981, the Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling was founded to revive the tradition of the defunct Cabinetmakers' Guild Exhibition: organizing an annual furniture exhibition for designers and manufacturers in Denmark.{{Cite web|title=Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling {{!}} Online magazine/ by Rigetta Klint|url=https://www.haandvaerkbookazine.com/story/The-Cabinetmakers-Autumn-Exhibition-2020|access-date=2020-12-09|website=www.haandvaerkbookazine.com|language=sv-SE}}{{cite web|title=Danske designerne skal videre | Information|date=5 February 2000 |url=https://www.information.dk/2000/02/danske-designerne-videre|access-date=2020-12-09}}
See also
Further reading
- Grete Jalk, Dansk Møbelkunst gennam 40 aar : Københavns Snedkerlaugs møbeludstillinger [40 years of Danish furniture design; the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' Guild exhibitions]. Taastrup: Teknologisk instituts forlag. 1987. {{ISBN|87-7511-709-6}}. {{OCLC|18654382}}.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.snedkerlauget.dk/ Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' Guild] website
- [https://www.danskkulturarv.dk/dr/m%C3%B8beludstilling/ Archival footage of the 1959 event] on Dansk Kulturarv
- [http://www5.kb.dk/pamphlets/dasmaa/2012/jul/smaatryk/subject5935/en/ Exhibition Booklets] from the Royal Library of Denmark's Digital collections
{{Danish modern}}
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Category:20th century in Denmark
Category:Annual events in Denmark