Finn Juhl NV-53, Original Teak Lounge Chair, Niels Vodder, Denmark, 1953. Finn Juhl originally designed the 53-series for master joiner Niels Vodder. It was introduced at the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' Guild Exhibition later that year. Branded manufacturer's mark: 'Niels Vodder Cabinetmaker Copenhagen Denmark Design: Finn Juhl'.

Provenance: Private Collection, New York

literature: Finn Juhl: Furniture, Architecture, Applied Art, Hiort, ppg. 58-59 Danish Chairs, Oda, ppg. 98-99 Finn Juhl: Memorial Exhibition, Hansen et al., ppg. 76-79, 139.

The NV-53 integrates the lightness and elegance of a wooden chair with an upholstered corpus, to embrace the body with genuine comfort. Finn Juhl's characteristic design feature of separating the carrying elements from the carried is also at play in the 53. However, this time the separation is achieved via more sophisticated means to add-in the aforementioned lightness and elegance. The rear legs, completely free from upholstery, protrude from the floor. In a single, unbroken motion they change direction and expand into an organically shaped armrest, almost animalistic in nature. The armrest wraps around the upholstery as if it is levitating, to arrive in a smooth and upwards point, begging to be touched.

The delicate transitions from the rounded to the sharp elements will help stimulate the senses, all the while painting a beautiful portrait of the wooden grain. It culminates in an explosion of the senses, but as usual, Finn Juhl manages to fulfill the practical and functional needs that are required of furniture. This combination brings meaning to each shape and expression, such that it spoils the user with comfort from a lost time.

The great Danish cabinetmaker Niels Vodder built most of Finn Juhl's furniture over the course of their thirty-year working relationship. The two presented twenty-two shows together at the annual Cabinetmaker's Guild exhibition between 1937 and 1959. Juhl's furniture was known for pushing the creative and material limits of wood, producing unique sculptural frames that required complex joinery, which he and Vodder developed in tandem.

Juhl and Vodder first worked together in 1933 — twenty-one-year-old Juhl was a student at the Architecture School of the Royal Danish Academy of Arts and was living in his own apartment (a rarity at that time for a student). He wanted to furnish the space with his own designs and asked Vodder to build the pieces for him, thus beginning their illustrious partnership. In 1937, Juhl and Vodder made their debut together at the Copenhagan Cabinetmaker’s Guild exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Art and would show together for the next twenty-two years.