Description
This teak coffee table was designed by Finn Juhl and manufactured by France & Son in Denmark in the 1960s. It is a truly stunning, long coffee table. The softly curved shaping of the two longer edges of the table top are beautiful both on the eye and to the touch. The table has two levels – the upper teak top and the lower magazine shelf. It has beautiful, gentle, subtle curves and is one of the finest examples to emerge from Scandinavia in the mid twentieth century.
Born in Denmark in 1912, Finn Juhl studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. After graduating, he worked for ten years in the office of Vilhelm Lauritzen, a leading Danish Modernist architect. In 1945, he set up his own practice, specialising in interior and furniture design. Juhl created design forms with the mindset of a sculptor and much of his furniture was technically ahead of its time. Juhl’s career blossomed through his participation in the annual Copenhagen Cabinetmakers’ Guild exhibitions, nationally sponsored events that supported design innovation through collaborations between young architects and traditional cabinetmakers.
France & Søn—and its predecessor, France & Daverkosen—are among the most sought after names on the vintage market today. Numerous pieces that are still in circulation retain their original identifying labels and were designed by major midcentury Danish designers, like Hvidt & Mølgaard, Grete Jalk, Finn Juhl, Arne Vodder, and Ole Wanscher. It’s surprising, then, that so little information about the company’s history and evolution has survived.
Most sources agree that the popular Danish manufacturing firm was founded in Denmark around 1948 by British businessman Charles W. France and Danish cabinetmaker Eric Daverkosen. Mattresses may have been the company’s first focus, but by 1952 France & Daverkosen had built a large furniture factory in Hillerød, just outside of Copenhagen, and was fast becoming one of most successful Danish furniture companies dedicated to mass production rather than traditional artisanal methods. Seating that features loose cushions and light, teak frames became France & Daverkosen’s signature.
Sometime between 1964 and 1967, Danish designer-manufacturer Poul Cadovius purchased France & Søn and renamed it CADO.
W153 x D56 x H46cm
