GREAT DANE - Key Persons
Hans J. Wegner is considered one of the greatest furniture designers of the 20th century, creating more than 1000 designs throughout his career. Wegner's designs have often been described as ‘iconic', ‘timeless' and ‘free from passing trends'. With a craftsman-like, pragmatic approach to designing furniture, Henrik Most described Wegner's approach as, ‘The biggest freedom stems from the most severe strictness'. In the dialogue between material and creativity, Wegner surpassed most of his peers and is one of the mid-century's most notable designers.
The son of a cobbler, Wegner was born in 1914 in Tønder, a town in southern Denmark. He began his apprenticeship with Danish master cabinetmaker H. F. Stahlberg when he was just 14 years old. Later on, he moved to Copenhagen and attended the School of Arts and Crafts from 1936 to 1938 before setting out as a furniture designer.
Ilse Crawford is a designer, teacher, creative director and founder of Studioilse
Ilse Crawford is a designer, teacher, creative director and founder of Studioilse. She also founded the department of Man and Wellbeing at the Design Academy Eindhoven, and was its head for two decades. By choosing to address true human needs (not manufactured ones), she has pioneered humanistic design in its real life application to environments, objects and experiences. This means design that can help us be better humans by always designing for positive mental and environmental impact. It means thinking about cause and effect, and understanding the bigger systems that underpin everything.