The Two Brothers, Erling and Egon Petersen

I went on a small furniture jaunt last night, checking out multiple design forums and blogs to see if I could find any new designers or interesting creatives. Usually I get a bit stuck because the internet doesn’t tend to document the more obscure individuals, they’re usually from Denmark or Sweden but it’s hard to find information on them and their work. A few times I’ve heard some designers names that have been placed on the furniture don’t actually exist, it’s just a cover-up, which is sort of interesting in itself. I’m currently looking more into that so maybe you’ll see this subject featured in a post at a later date. Most of the time though something crops up and old leads tend to turn into new leads.

For example this photography that I’m showcasing today was taken by Andreas Sweiss who photographed the Finn Juhl 2012 catalogue that I talked about earlier in the year. He’s a talented photographer and he tends to mix in the same sort of circles that inspire me, this time he went and took pictures inside of the Brdr. Petersen workshop. This place is owned by two brothers, Erling and Egon Petersen, and was established in 1972 in Aarhus Denmark, where they still make and reside now. Together they have built high quality furniture for nearly 40 years, and have worked in close collaboration with architects and designers to deliver a range of beautiful pieces that are finely upholstered and constructed.

A great collection of photos but I’m going to specifically talk about one series that grabbed my attention, the “Seal” set of furniture designed in 1956 by Danish furniture architect Ib Kofod Larsen. Ib got an assignment from furniture maker OPE Möbler, who produced the chair that you can see throughout this post, they wanted a series of “Danish” furniture to breathe life into the dying Swedish furniture industry. This series consists of two armchairs – one low back and one high back and one two seater sofa, although this looks pretty spectacular with it’s leather covering Mr Larsen was better known for his furniture series, Elizabeth. Which the British Queen Elizabeth II bought during her visit to Denmark in 1958. He was also known for being the colleague of the famous Hans J. Wegner and Børge Mogensen (two of my favourites), and like them he took the journey from carpentry to architectural school. His clean Danish design is an obvious attraction and really showcases what I like about this style, high arms and a sloping attractive back with an organic use of materials.

As you may have gathered Brdr. Petersen now produce this series in house so if you’re interested in this collection in any way I’d recommend heading towards their website via the link below to find out more. They’ve got some great product photography and some nice information on the designers who created them.

www.petersen-furniture.dk
www.andreasweiss.org

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