Born: 1914 in Aalborg. Died: 1972 in Gentofte

"Børge's furniture — like Børge himself — is at once self-conscious and modest. Outwardly, it's reserved, because he wants it to support the user's individuality and the free development of his or her life; but it isn't neutral. It has an active presence, it has opinions." - Arne Karlsen, architect and friend

Børge Westergaard Mogensen was one of Denmark's most important furniture architects. For more than 30 years, he created pieces of furniture which have since come to be regarded as classics. Today, they are considered some of the principal works in the history of Danish furniture.

For Børge Mogensen, it wasn't about designing the most beautiful, most experimental furniture. Instead, he strove to create democratic furniture aimed at the growing middle class; furniture that was both accessible and durable. Mogensen was particularly concerned with making usable furniture, adapted to the human body. The solid craftsmanship and quality of the materials he worked with were essential in his furniture production.

Børge Mogensen was, first and foremost, a carpenter, and later studied furniture architecture at the School of Architecture in the Academy of Art, under such professors as Kaare Klint. There, he learned the Klint school's process, which was grounded in detailed studies of the human body. More than any other of his generation, Børge Mogensen carried on the methods of the Klint school. Throughout his working life, he developed his furniture based on thorough measurements and proportional studies. When designing a cabinet system, he measured the length of a coat and the width of a shirt; and when he worked on a new chair, he similarly based his work on the measurements and dimensions of the human body.

Børge Mogensen's furniture is characterised by a simple and rational visual language, and the furniture has an honesty and tranquillity about it that points far beyond the mathematical formulas that serve as its foundations. They neither boast nor demand attention, despite often being produced with the very best materials. Among his best-known pieces of furniture are Den Spanske Stol ("The Spanish Chair"), Tremmesofa, and Folkestol ("The People's Chair"), as well as other sofas, tables, and storage furniture.

Børge Mogensen managed to create several classic pieces of furniture in his partnerships with such producers as FDB Furniture, Fredericia Furniture, Fritz Hansen, Søborg Furniture Factory, Karl Andersson & Sons, P. Lauritsen & Son, C. M. Madsen, and Erhard Rasmussen. He succeeded in fulfilling his vision of creating simple, quality furniture with a timeless aesthetic.

Today, Børge Mogensen stands as the epitome of Danish furniture art: With respect for the Danish design tradition, he created simple, functional furniture. Furniture that was adapted to the contemporary — and which still manages to function in the 21st century, where simplicity and function have marked themselves as core values in Danish and Nordic design.

Buy a furniture classic by Børge Mogensen
At KLASSIK, we deal in original pieces of furniture by designers like Børge Mogensen. That means that individual pieces may easily be more than 50 years old, but Børge Mogensen and his contemporaries didn't just unite form and function with their furniture—their pieces were also produced in incredibly high quality, making them even more beautiful today. If you can't find the item or piece of furniture you're looking for, please contact us with your enquiry at support@klassik.dk, or by phone at +45 33 33 90 60. Of course, you're always welcome to visit us in our shop, too, where you can experience many of these classic pieces of furniture for yourself.