Danish Chairs by Kai Kristiansen

Kai Kristiansen has designed and produced furniture since the early 1950’s. Born in Denmark in 1929, he first started his apprenticeship as a cabinet maker, before enrolling at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1948. working with teak, oak and rosewood.

His designs are well know for  curves but also for comfort.  Kai Kristiansen collaborated with some well know makers including Fritz Hansen, and Magnus Olesen. Because his designs were so difficult to produce, they eventually went out of production. In 2014, Kai Kristiansen  collaborated with Miyazaki Chair Company in Japan to re-imagine some of his classics designs, which resulted in the Handy Chair, 4110 Chair, and Paper Knife seating collection.

Today, his vintage designs are highly collectable, and he is recognised as one of the most talented Scandinavian designers of the 20th century.

Kai Kristiansen continues to live and work in Copenhagen, working with designers and manufacturers.

We often have Kai Kristiansen chairs either re-upholstered or to be restored so please do get in touch to see what is available or browse through our website.

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We are Open after Lockdown

We are finally open after 12 weeks of lock down. It’s been a strange time for everyone, one day rolling into another, but we have been busy in our workshop. We’ve had orders to full fill, chairs and footstools to make and we’ve made a few deliveries too. We’ve delivered to Birmingham and Devon during lock down. It was rather easy with little traffic on the motorway. Social distancing was not pleasant when we delivered as we do like to stay and have a short chat with customers, especially when they are far away. We had to refuse coffee and cake when we would normally be thrilled to be offered but we were concious of not staying “just in case”.

We celebrated our 19th shop birthday whilst closed too as well as ours son’s 18th birthday. All very subdued and unreal.

We’ve been tiding up the workshop as we had a new delivery of Danish stock ready to be restored for when the shop re-opened. The workshop is full to bursting so we do hope you like some of our latest buys and that you may be tempted to invest in a piece for your home. Times have changed but with everyone working together and doing their bit, we can all get to some normality soon. Stay safe and please do come and see us very soon.

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The Benefits of Wool in Furniture

We use wool lots on our furniture. The wool we use is made in the UK which is one big benefit but here are many more reason to choose natural wool.

Wool is safe. It’s naturally fire retardant. It doesn’t drip, melt, or emit harmful fumes.

Wool is tough. Its individual fibres are comparatively stronger than steel.

Wool is cosy. It insulates noise.

Wool is fresh. It can help purify the air in interiors for up to thirty years.

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Danish and Mid-Century Furniture

Mark was trained 33 years ago as a traditional upholsterer, so when we ventured into the Danish and mid century furniture about four years ago it was initially a little bit alien to him.

Figuring out how to re-upholster something so different from a Victorian chair was both challenging, and a huge learning curve. You are constantly learning when you are a skilled upholsterer and craftsman.

We fell in love with Danish furniture. Its quite often simple, small but what was surprising is the quality. Quite frankly the build quality is superior to some of the British designs.

The attention to detail is also what we love about this Danish mid century furniture. Gorgeous grain in the wood, elegant shapes, we were converted! The other beauty is that style wise it fits into all styles of homes, and if you happen to be in a small space, it fits. With all the mass produced furniture out there, we cannot understand why you wouldn't want a unique piece for your home.

Restored and re-upholstered saves waste, timber and will probably last longer than some of the new furniture which is made today.

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