at the danish embassy, exploring an iconic finn juhl chair
If, like any sensible person, you aspire to live in a home filled with Danish Modern design, you may be a bit envious of Denmark’s ambassador to the United States. The ambassador’s official residence in Washington is a stunning, light-filled 1960 building designed by architect Vilhelm Lauritzen, and its period furnishings were curated by none other than Finn Juhl — perhaps the most brilliant of all the designers of Denmark’s midcentury “Golden Age.” Step through the front door, and you’re immediately drawn into room after room of masterpieces of art and furniture — many of them (including one-of-a-kind pieces) by Juhl himself.
The Finn Juhl “Chieftain” chair
So the residence was the ideal setting for a talk by Chicago architect Carl J. D’Silva, who spoke on the evening of February 25 about the origins of Finn Juhl’s iconic “Chieftain” chair of 1949 — the subject of his fascinating new book Lost Danish Treasure.
The “Chieftain” may be one of the most famous pieces of furniture in the world, but until recently, little about its beginnings was known. That started to change in 2021, when D’Silva (an aficionado of all things Danish Modern), came across a listing in a Chicago auction house for what seemed to be Finn Juhl’s original watercolor design for the chair — a rare and quite beautiful piece of design history.
Juhl, as it turns out, was a gifted watercolorist, and he made one for each of his designs before starting production. But the watercolor for the Chieftain chair had disappeared over the decades, so its appearance at the auction was an important event — if it was, in fact, genuine.
Carl D’Silva with the watercolor
Intrigued, D’Silva consulted the archives at the Art Institute of Chicago, convinced himself that this really was the missing watercolor, and bid on it at the auction, winning it for a cool $15,000.
But that was just the beginning of the story. As he told the audience of well over 100 people (largely architects and design professionals, to judge by the chunky glasses and elegantly minimalist suits), the watercolor sent him on a forensic dive deep into the Chieftain’s origins, taking him through international archives and even to Finn Juhl’s original home (now a museum) outside Copenhagen, where he could examine the Chieftain that Juhl himself kept in his living room.
It all made for a fascinating and highly personal talk, with both a broad discussion of Juhl’s life and quite a bit of technical detail about the history and construction of the Chieftain itself, and the book — which chronicles D’Silva’s near-obsessive pursuit — is beautifully produced and photographed; a fine addition to any modernist’s library.
Ambassador Jesper Møller Sørensen was at the event to make welcoming remarks, noting that “in Denmark, design is something woven into everyday life,” and adding — to a wry laugh from the audience — that the marble used throughout the residence was all imported from Greenland. H.R.H Princess Marie of Denmark was also there for the presentation, and was as lovely and gracious as could be.