Making the CH25 - Designed by Hans Wegner

Sometimes I feel like I am resurrecting the dead or at least recreating Jurassic Park. The paleontology of furniture. Digging up bones (pictures). Sifting through the dirt and debris (more photos- hopefully closeups or bottoms side shots).

When you are hoping to make a piece that you have never seen and not too many people have either and to top it off any technical information on them is no doubt buried in some website only in Danish is challenging, to say the least. I fortunately have gained the knack for obtaining at least one or two dimensions and working from pictures after that to the final dimensions of the entire piece with success.

Critical in making this project come together was determining the exact diameter of Danish cord. If you saw my ruler for weaving danish cord post then you know why this was so problematic. Once I figured this part out I had to find photos that showed exactly the number of cords on each portion of the chair. This took me about a year looking at photos that would pop up online. Thanks to an online auction, I stumbled upon some good close ups where I could count each cord. Put that info together with the dimensions and that finally completed the missing details I had been looking for.

Fortunately, Wegner was a craftsman, so his designs follow a logic that a woodworker can see at its core. You can see an underlying structure that is logical in the wood choice. How he utilized standardized lumber dimensions to derive the different parts for proportion and joinery. It is amazing the efficiency of the lay out of parts for production. I have learned after making several of his designs that there is practically no room for improvement. That is why you see so many "modern" chair designs that have his chairs at the core. Though, in truth, Wegner took many of his designs from chairs of antiquity. How about his wish bone chair that is essentially derived from a Quan Yi ceremonial chair (Chinese). I digress...

I know everyone wants to know. How to weave that back? What is that hole in the top of the rail for? Do you use cord nails in the back? No. I can answer that for you. The rest will have to wait for another post. And, YES, this chair is really "that" comfortable. Oh and finally, NO, you have absolutely no need for an ottoman.