ABOUT
OUR HISTORY
Onecollection was founded in 1990 by Ivan Hansen and Henrik Sørensen. They still run the company today and passionately provide high quality design solutions in cooperation with excellent designers.
In 2001, Onecollection was trusted with the exclusive rights to manufacture and relaunch Finn Juhl’s sculptural and iconic furniture by Finn Juhl’s widow. Today the unique Finn Juhl collection consists of 40 classic masterpieces.
All of which Onecollection manufactures with the utmost respect for their original heritage and strict demands for quality.
For Onecollection, venturing into Finn Juhl’s design universe has been like embarking on a joyful journey with constant surprises in terms of shapes, aesthetics and unique design details. The Finn Juhl collection, which is branded under the name “House of Finn Juhl” has its own website and identity: House of Finn Juhl
ONECOLLECTION – AN ANARCHISTIC JOURNEY
Onecollection, or Hansen and Sørensen as the company was originally called at its start in 1990, is based on conviction and personal relationships.
The attitude is, and has always been, that in order to take in a project – whether it is a new chair or the full interior of a building – there has to be good vibes from the beginning. From a small outpost, practically as far west as you can get in Denmark, we have managed to make clients all around the globe believe in projects.
The journey has not been without obstacles, but with passion and enthusiasm we keep convincing people – not least some very critical banks in the beginning – and this is still the main reason why Onecollection is thriving today.
“The head office of the new company was a laundry room in Henrik’s mother’s basement, furnished with a desk and two chairs. Søren Holst had designed a small series of furniture and a couple of candlesticks holders, which were loaded into a cheap van. The engine needed a couple of slaps with a spanner in order to start, but off we went “
- Henrik Sørensen & Ivan Hansen
THE VERY BEGINNING
In 1990 the head office of the newly founded company was the laundry room in Henrik’s mother’s basement, furnished with only a desk and two chairs. The designer Søren Holst had designed a small series of furniture and a couple of candlesticks holders, which we loaded into a cheap van.
The engine needed a couple of slaps with a spanner at a particular spot in order to start, but off went to cultivate our market. The following year we managed to move to a more appropriate office and at the same time, the old van was exchanged for a new one, which didn’t need slapping!
The bigger van meant that we could not only travel a bit safer around the Danish highways but also take the collection to the growing export markets in Scandinavia and Northern Europe.
Initially our business model was much simpler. We wanted to base the company on external production through different suppliers, in order to avoid having to finance expensive machines and staff.
At the same time we agreed on an aggressive marketing strategy. The introduction of the new company took place at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair in May 1991, where we showcased furniture designed by Søren Holst – and as oddly as it may sounds – doorhandles – Just because they were pretty.
FINN JUHL & ONECOLLECTION
AN OPPORTUNITY NOT TO MISS
In 1998 Finn Juhl’s widow, Hanne Wilhelm Hansen, called us and asked if we could help make one of Finn Juhl’s sofas – model 57. Initially we were very surprised as we did not know Hanne Wilhelm Hansen.
However, we did know architect Bård Henriksen who was helping Hanne manage the rights to Finn Juhl’s furniture and he was the one who had suggested that she got in touch with us – “the guys from Ringkøbing”. Hanne wished to have a single unit of the sofa manufactured for an exhibition she was arranging in honour of Finn Juhl who had passed away in 1989.
Since we already revered Finn Juhl as one of the most important pioneers in Danish design history this was an amazing opportunity for us – and we immediately accepted the challenge. We made the sofa, Hanne saw it and thought that it was fantastic.
This marked the beginning of a new chapter in Onecollection’s history. The 57 sofa was a wonderful piece of furniture with design and craftsmanship qualities that we had not worked with before.
INTO THE ARCHIVES
We studied Finn Juhl’s materials and archives in detail and requested permission to re-launch the Poet sofa and the Pelican chair. Hanne gave us the permission and additionally we received full access to Finn Juhl’s house where Hanne lived.
Furthermore we consulted Mr. Oda Noritsugu from Japan who owns the world’s largest private collection of Finn Juhl furniture and with help from skilful craftsmen we recreated the two models.
THE FIRST SHOW
The Pelican chair had only been produced in a few limited units in 1940. Now it was going to have its rebirth at the international furniture fair in Cologne, in a new millennium. It was a gamble on our side. Finn Juhl’s furniture had not been exhibited for many years and had, to a large extent, been forgotten outside of the art and design history circles.
The fair became a turning point for us since we displayed furniture that everyone seemed to have an opinion about. Some people thought that the Pelicans were ugly and compared them to tired animals, others thought that they were funny and then there were those who thought that they were simply brilliant.
Finn Juhl’s furniture immediately brought us in contact with foreign parties who took an interest in the pieces. A large U.S. company stated that they wanted to reintroduce Finn Juhl’s furniture on the U.S. market and they paid us a visit on September 12, 2001.
DESIGNERS
HENRIK TENGLER
Henrik Tengler graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1988 and has more than 26 years of experience with furniture design and interior design. In 1992 Onecollection put the first chair from Henrik Tengler into production. The chair named Chairman later on became Onecollection’s best selling piece of furniture with more than 50.000 sold to date.
SALTO & SIGSGAARD
Since 2003 Kasper and Thomas have worked together, from their studio in Copenhagen. With the first prize in the Danish Arts Foundation’s competition; ‘New furniture for the UN headquarters’, they moved into furniture design together. Since designing the Council Chair which Onecollection put into production, Kasper and Thomas have been involved in several projects with Onecollection.
ERLA SÓLVEIG OSKARSDÓTTIR
Erla Sólveig Oskarsdóttir is born in Iceland but got her education in industrial design from the Danish Design School in Copenhagen in 1993. She moved back to Reykjavik after finishing her studies to work as an independent designer. She works in furniture design and cooperates with companies in Europe and USA.
LARS FRANK NIELSEN
Lars Frank Nielsen was one of the founders behind the architectcompany 3XNielsen (3XN) in Århus. A company know for a long row of wellknown buildings in Denmark and abroad, among others The Courtbuilding in Holstebro, House of Architects in Copenhagen and the Danish Embassy in Berlin.
SØREN ULRIK PETERSEN
Over the years Søren Ulrik has designed porcelain for Royal Copenhagen and textiles for Georg Jensen Damask, but furniture is his strongest element. Søren Ulrik finished his training as cabinet maker in 1985 and his education at the Danish School of Design in 1990. He is always looking for different ways of doing things and prefers to use non traditional methods and materials.
NANNA & JØRGEN DITZEL
Nanna Ditzel was trained to be a cabinetmaker and also graduated from the Industrial Arts and Crafts College in 1946. Together with her husband Jørgen Ditzel she designed jewelry, furniture and textiles. They established their own design studio in 1946.
STORES
ONECOLLECTION
Address : Vesterled 18, DK-6950 Ringkøbing
Email : [email protected]
Telephone : +45 70 277101
ONECOLLECTION / HOUSE OF FINN JUHL
Address : Gothersgade 9, DK-1123 Copenhagen K
Telephone : +45 28 57 34 57
