Finn Juhl - a portrait

Finn Juhl was groundbreaking, in particular within furniture design, but he was also a valued architect with his sense for the interplay between furniture and space.

As a designer he was part of a revolution in Danish design. In the 1940s he designed a series of furniture that was to redefine the ‘Danish Design’ concept and the 1950s saw his breakthrough in the US with the interior design project ”The Trusteeship Chamber” in the UN headquarters in New York. Together with Arne Jacobsen and Poul Kjærholm, Finn Juhl paved the way for the launch of Danish design abroad under the title ‘Danish Modern’, and the subsequent export boom through the 1960s up to the present day.  

Finn Juhl was born in 1912 in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen and he died in Ordrup, just north of the city in 1989. His father, Johannes Juhl (1872-1941) was a textile wholesaler. He never knew his mother, née Goecker, as she died just three days after he was born. In addition to his father, Finn Juhl also had a two-year-older brother.

Finn Juhl graduated from Sankt Jørgens Gymnasium in 1930, and in the same year he was admitted to the School of Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

In 1937 Finn Juhl married a dentist, Inge-Marie Skaarups, and in 1942 they built the house at Kratvænget 15 in Ordrup. This was a dream come true for Juhl, as he believed that design and art helped create a home and added balance and cohesion. With his own home Juhl put his ideas into practice.

Finn Juhl and Inge-Marie Skaarups were later divorced and Finn Juhl’s second marriage was to Hanne Wilhelm Hansen.

Read more about Finn Juhl at www.finnjuhl.com