House of Finn Juhl
Finn Juhl Hulsø Shelf
- Specifications
- Description
- The Designer
- The Maker
- Brand:House of Finn Juhl of Denmark
- Country: Made in Denmark
- SKU: HFJ-4990-OCO
- Material: Oak, Walnut
- Care:Care instructions included
- Designer:Finn Juhl
- Dimensions:(WxDxH) 35.43" x 10.43" x 6.5"
The Hulsø shelf's organically shaped design challenges the conventional notion of a shelf as merely a backdrop for displayed objects. Instead, the Hulsø Shelf stands as an artistic element in its own right, adding aesthetic value to any room beyond its function. When multiple shelves are combined, they create a cohesive organic expression with soft, curve lines, adding both function and decoration to any space. The Hulsø Shelf is available in solid FSC® certified oak or walnut and can be mounted on the wall individually, in rows, or in free formations.
There is a specific interior, including the shelf, illustrated in two of Finn Juhl's original watercolors, and there's also a detailed technical drawing of the shelf dated 1949. The colorful interior also features Finn Juhl's bold Wall Sofa and his most famous furniture piece, the Chieftain Chair, designed in the same year.
There's some mystery surrounding the original context of the shelf: The house in Hulsø Ege, Rungsted, dating back to 1917, still exists, but no further information about Finn Juhl's 1949 interior project has been found.
Nevertheless, Finn Juhl's precise drawing has enabled House of Finn Juhl to recreate and now launch the Hulsø Shelf - 75 years after it was first designed.
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."
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.
