Week 4 Blog - Winnie Chen

“Networks, Narratives, and New Markets: The Rise and Decline of Danish Modern Furniture Design, 1930-1970” by Per H. Hanson discusses the impact of narratives and committed social networks that allowed Danish modern furniture to flourish in both Denmark and the United States. The modern concept of Danish Design reinforces the notion to express one’s self-image through material items, lifestyle, fashion, and especially through furniture. This marks the idea that Denmark’s national aesthetic is the narratives that are marketed through furniture and continuously promoted by tight social networks, ultimately creating the overall product and concept that makes Denmark what it has become. Using Danish Design furniture, that narrative of the furniture thus speaks in place of the consumer; what kind of chair you sit on represents your sense of style, aesthetic, and your self-image. According to Hanson, the “consumers purchased a narrative, in the form of a desk or a chair, that they circulated to others by displaying the items in their homes or offices” (Hansen 452). With Danish Modern, the success of this concept comes from the incentive to maximize functionality under the Klint Subnarrative, and as a result of such, the effort to emphasis function will thus become its aesthetic to consumers.

The other contribution to Danish Design is the Cabinetmakers’ Subnarrative, which supported the collaboration between architects and cabinetmakers because this collaboration exemplified excellent craftsmanship and intelligent use of wood – a new adaptation. Uniting both subnarratives, in the end, have created what is known as Danish Modern, and the national aesthetic of such is the narratives. Unlike other national aesthetics, there is always room for improvement to achieve a greater national aesthetic status, but in the case of Denmark, its national aesthetics of narratives within Danish Modern is already at its peak status. Danish Modern is successful due to its impact on the consumers and the contributors to Danish Modern furniture, including the Cabinetmakers. This is explained by the self-images both producers and consumers gained – consumers gained a certain self-image based on their choice of furniture, whereas Hansen argues that the cabinetmakers, for example, had “constructed a strong individual and collective identity for themselves and projected a public image to support it” (Hansen 457). Danish Modern is already at its peak.

Question: What is the current contemporary impact of Danish Modern in Denmark, the United States, and possibly in other countries?

Works Cited:

Hansen, Per H.. “Networks, Narratives, and New Markets: The Rise and Decline of Danish Modern Furniture Design, 1930-1970”. The Business History Review 80.3 (2006): 449–483. Web.

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