I’ve wanted to visit the stunning new Fredericia showroom since I wrote about it a while back. You can see the post here. On the #scandidesigntour2017 last week, we got to hear all about the history behind Fredericia and how it started. We were lucky to have the owner, Thomas Graversen and his son Rasmus, telling us all about the company.
The name Fredericia is actually from where it all started. Fredericia is a town in Denmark and the factory is still there. The Fredericia showroom is located in the middle of Copenhagen and it’s stunning to say the least. It’s vast and the high ceilings are pretty impressive.
The 2213 sofa by Børge Mogensen in the photo below isn’t a new sofa. It’s had a hard life, but it still looks as good as new. Mogensen designed it for his own home in 1962. It’s great to see how a well designed piece of furniture can last for generations.
It was really interesting to hear how it all started and it goes all the way back to 1911 to when the company was formed. Danish design has got such an important role in mid-century furniture and it’s amazing to see the amount of items that are still in production today. So many of the designs look like they could have been designed yesterday, rather than many many years ago.
These quotes lies in the foundations of the company. It’s all about the quality, the craftsmanship and the fact that you should be able to have a piece of furniture for a long time. I’ll show you more about the Iconic Spanish chair and how it’s made in another post.
“PAY ATTENTION TO THE UPHOLSTERING. ONLY FINE CRAFTMANSHIP WILL PROVIDE YOU THE LONGEVITY THAT YOU WISH FOR”
– Transcript from the 1924 Fredericia catalogue
“IT IS OF GREAT IMPORTANCE THAT THE THINGS WE PURCHASE AND LIVE WITH, DO NOT NEED TO BE CHANGED BUT INSTEAD GROW OLD WITH DIGNITY AND CHARM”
– Andreas Graversen, Managing Director for FREDERICIA, 1955-1995
In 2011 Fredericia celebrated 100 years! They did that by launching a new collection of chairs called the Spine collection by Space Copenhagen. We were lucky to visit the Space Copenhagen studio too, so I’ll show you more from that in another post. If you would like to know more about the history of Fredericia, then have a look here.
We were treated to an amazing dinner at the top floor of the Fredericia showroom. The dinner was Danish cuisine, cooked to perfection and supported by the Electrolux Gourmet Range. It was all cooked sous-vide, which makes food taste delicious. The long table was beautifully decorated with everything you can think of from Georg Jensen, including some fabulous chandeliers. After dinner we got to make our own cocktails on the roof top with items from the new Georg Jensen Sky Collection deigned by Aurélien Barbry. It was a brilliant experience and we had such a great time. Can we do it again soon please?!
