Carl Hansen & Søn – HJW03 Opala Floor Lamp

Hans J. Wegner was born in Tønder, Denmark in 1914. At the age of 22, he attended the School of Applied Arts in Copenhagen in 1936, and later returned to teach. In 1943, he opened his own design studio and designed the Chinese Chair. This chair, along with his 1949 Round Chair, laid the foundation for many of his subsequent designs. The Round Chair became widely known as The Chair. Although The Chair is probably the most iconic piece in Wegner’s career, the Wishbone Chair is often considered his most successful design.

The large Opala floor lamp, known as the MAXI, was originally designed for the Hotel Scandinavia in Copenhagen. The smaller version, the Opala floor lamp MIDI, was developed much later and was one of Hans J. Wegner’s final goals for his Opala range. According to Wegner’s wife, he had long had a desire to create a version of the Opala floor lamp (MAXI) with a smaller shade. In 2007, Pandul produced a prototype of the Opala MIDI floor lamp and presented it to his wife, as Wegner was living in a nursing home at the time. A few days after the presentation, Mrs. Wegner confirmed that it was exactly what her husband had imagined and gave the green light for production.