The Grasshopper was designed by Finn Juhl in 1938 and exhibited at Niels Vodder's stand at the guild exhibition. Two chairs were displayed alongside a mobile bar cabinet, with illustrations of exquisite cocktails hanging on the walls. This was quite a daring set-up and extravagant when compared to the otherwise "heavy" and traditional furniture that was presented at the time. However, people at the fair neither liked or understood the provocative exhibition. In order to help Niels Vodder avoid bigger loss, Finn Juhl bought the two chairs he had designed. The two Grasshopper Chairs from 1938 were the only ones to see the light of day. Until today.
The Grasshopper was one of Finn Juhl's first attempts at expressing his artistic freedom in the form of furniture. The chair also marks the first in a long line of designs, that would go on to manifest Finn Juhl as one of the all-time greatest in furniture design.
Standing in complete contrast to his contemporary colleagues, Finn Juhl was neither a trained cabinetmaker nor furniture designer, but had instead studied to become an architect. His lack of technical knowledge has most likely contributed to his furniture oozing of artistic freedom and expression.
Finn Juhl was not constrained by what was possible, or impossible—and only with help from master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder, Finn Juhl's rudimentary drawings were translated into physical designs. Namely the Grasshopper is, despite its apparent simplicity, exceedingly hard to construct due to its tricky angles, joints and complex shapes.
Finn Juhl
The work of architect Finn Juhl (1912—1989) energized traditional Danish design. It exemplifies the quality of craftsmanship and beauty that made the nation a leader in modern home furnishing during the 1940s and 1950s.
Juhl was trained as an all-round building architect, not—as he emphasized—especially as a furniture designer. On several occasions, he pointed out that as a furniture designer, he was purely self-taught.
His early chairs were produced in small batches, eighty at most, because they were created for Guild shows where the work of the artisan was emphasized over the burgeoning industry of mass production. However, they were almost all reissued later in his career.
In 1951 he designed the Trusteeship Council Chamber in the United Nations Headquarters in New York as a gift from Denmark to the UN.
A stability of construction harmonized with a unique expression of form distinguishes his works. His fondness for teak as a material led him to develop new and superior techniques for its use, and he is responsible for the present popularity of teak in Danish furniture.
Finn Juhl had a great influence on the following generation of Scandinavian architects with his use of bold sculptural forms and ultra-refined detailing. Juhl once said: "One cannot create happiness with beautiful objects, but one can ruin quite a lot of happiness with bad ones."
House of Finn Juhl of Denmark
Finn Juhl designed furniture with the human body in mind. This characteristic made him stand out from his midcentury peers in Denmark and Scandinavia alike. Rather than limiting himself to thinking in terms of practical construction, Finn Juhl adopted the mindset of a sculptor when shaping furniture. With this approach he created iconic pieces such as the Pelican Chair, the Poet Sofa, the Chieftain Chair and the 45 Chair, which have become darlings of the Danish Modern movement today. When relaunching iconic Finn Juhl pieces, we have to assume his mindset ourselves and strive to understand his design philosophy. It is all about feeling. One cannot make his furniture simply by adhering to a technical and commercial approach. You have to be extremely critical and uncompromising in what you do, because when it comes to Finn Juhl—there is no bottom line.
By the time of his passing in 1989, Finn Juhl had become an award winning and highly appreciated furniture designer on the international design stage. To this day, Finn Juhl's sculptural pieces of furniture are celebrated worldwide and he is credited as one of the founding fathers of the Danish Modern movement in America.
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