Multi-talent

The Chair made of foamed polymer is the work of the artist as well as the designer. The challenge and experiment consisted in creating a piece of furniture in one process, in one unbroken form and in one material - a comment on Chesterfield furniture. Imagine how amazing this chair must have been in a time without colour TV and the Internet!

Material as the designer
Aagaard Andersen was fascinated by the whipped cream-like polyether material consisting of urethane, water and freon. It had a life of its own thanks to gravitation. He poured out the liquid material layer by layer. When it dried, it became strong and took on a tempered, leathery surface.

Importance of the artistic touch
Gunnar Aagaard Andersen is particularly interesting, because his work spanned different disciplines and skills - well ahead of his time. His artistic approach to design was an inspiration to furniture manufacturers, designers and architects alike, because it differed from what they were used to.

The Chair made of foamed polymer was and remains an icon. In 1966, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York purchased the chair for its permanent design collection and four other chairs have been sold to museums around the world. In Denmark, it is part of the furniture collection of the Danish Museum of Art & Design.

Aagaard's far-reaching inspiration
Today, Gunnar Aagaard Andersen remains an example for many designers. Ceramic artist Ole Jensen, himself represented in the shop at MoMA, is strongly inspired by Aagaard Andersen, and designers Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel designed several interiors in collaboration with Aagaard. Other design icons such as Poul Henningsen, Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen also worked together with the multi-talented artist. Internationally, Aagaard Andersen's ability to depart from the predictable influenced the Pop Art movement and early postmodernism, among other schools.

Charlotte Jul is design writer and editor at KUNSTUFF, a Danish handicraft and design magazine.