The Chieftain Chair | Finn Juhl | 1949
The iconic Chieftain Chair is one of Finn Juhl’s absolute masterpieces, representing the peak of his career as a furniture designer. At its introduction in 1949, the chair marked a renewal of the Danish furniture design tradition. Today, it is perceived as one of the most important exponents of the Danish Modern movement in the US during the 1950s. The chair is available in walnut or oak with upholstery in selected, exclusive leather types.
Please note that the actual colours and materials may vary due to image editing and differences in screen balances and settings. The versions shown are intended to serve only as examples. We kindly encourage you to view the physical material samples at our official retailers. Learn more about our materials here: material page.
Design:
Finn Juhl
Year:
1949, relaunched in 2002
Materials:
Frame: Walnut or oak
Upholstery:
Leather
Model and Dimensions:
FJ 4900
W: 100 cm | D: 88 cm | H: 92.5 cm
Seat height: 34.5 cm.
The iconic Chieftain Chair is one of Finn Juhl’s absolute masterpieces, representing the peak of his career as a furniture designer. At its introduction in 1949, the chair marked a renewal of the Danish furniture design tradition. Today, it is perceived as one of the most important exponents of the Danish Modern movement in the US during the 1950s. The chair is available in walnut or oak with upholstery in selected, exclusive leather types.
Design:
Finn Juhl
Year:
1949, relaunched in 2002
Materials:
Frame: Walnut or oak
Upholstery:
Leather
Model and Dimensions:
FJ 4900
W: 100 cm | D: 88 cm | H: 92.5 cm
Seat height: 34.5 cm.
The Chieftain Chair - An Icon Within Furniture
Today, the Chieftain Chair is perceived as one of the most important exponents of the Danish Modern movement in the US during the 1950s. For this reason, Finn Juhl is often considered the founding father of Danish Modern.
Inspired by modern art and foreign cultures, the Chieftain Chair with its organic shapes, liberated itself from traditional Danish furniture design and strict functionalism in both shape, construction and materials.
In 2012, the Chieftain Chair won the Danish Design Award, Classic. The jury said in its motivation: ”Today, the Chieftain Chair stands as an inspiration to a new generation of furniture designers and as proof that attention to quality, international calibre and a will to break away from tradition can pave the way to make a difference as a designer”.
The Process Behind the Chair
The Chieftain Chair is probably the most well-known piece of all of Finn Juhl’s chairs and a powerful design, which not only dominates in size and extravagance but also needs a lot of space around it to do itself justice. It is in true and proper fashion a chieftain. It has, with good reason, been called an icon of Danish furniture design.
Finn Juhl was however quite modest about the development process of the chair, and did not have any expectations of its greatness. Finn Juhl said:
“I started drawing the Chieftain Chair one day in the spring of 1949. I was at home, and I started drawing a small sketch around 10 AM with just four vertical lines connected with something. By two or three o’clock in the morning I had painted it. But in reality, I don’t know how long it took me to design that chair. Perhaps I had a vague idea for some time that I wanted to design something bigger. There had been so many small, handy chairs, so I probably felt like designing something a bit more pompous...”
