carl hansen & søn presents the preludia series by brad ascalon

carl hansen & søn unveils its collaboration with american designer brad ascalon, the preludia series, a collection of tables and chairs geared towards the contract market. the collection, originally unveiled during stockholm furniture fair, where designboom sat down with ascalon to discuss the design process, is intended for public and private interiors, and designed to accomodate high-volume production.

all images courtesy of carl hansen & søn

the preludia collection combines carl hansen & søn‘s 110-year-old heritage with ascalon‘s signature modern, minimalist approach, and in particular his interest in exploring the potential of wood. an all-wood preludia chair featuring a 3D veneer seat and a solid wood base marks the starting point in a series of steel-legged, sled-based stackable options, a distant relative yet still with resemblance to an iconic edition in carl hansen’s history – the wishbone chair.

‘the main objective was pulling the DNA of carl hansen into the new environment‘, ascalon explains. ‘in one of the first visits to carl hansen I took home a wishbone chair leg, that’s been on my desk for four years throughout this project and that has been my inspiration, my inspiration was the brand itself.’ the wishbone chair was one of the very first models world renowned danish furniture maker hans j. wegner designed especially for carl hansen & søn in 1949, and has been in production ever since.

‘the materiality of wegner I am so fond of, there are so many elements he continued throughout his work and I wanted to represent that in a way to pay homage to him,’ ascalon continues. ‘but the end result had to feel like it had been designed in the 1940’s or today and still make sense.’

as well as drawing from historic partnerships between the brand and other makers, ascalon was particularly keen in incorporating the company’s expertise in 3D veneer into his design allowing the wooden seat to be generously bent in multiple directions simultaneously. this technique allowed ascalon and carl hansen & søn to achieve an organic seat form with a high level of physical comfort, and an inherent strength and stability.

‘this was a process that carl hansen used in tadao ando’s dream chair three years ago, and I wanted to continue that‘, ascalon explains, demonstrating his meticulous research into the brand. ‘this process takes sheets veneers and scores them thousands of times, microscopically almost and so those scores allow you to achieve a form you would only get with plastic, fibreglass or maybe a metal stamped piece.’

a series of preludia tables accompanying the chairs featuring a clean, modern and unified expression. available in dining table and bar heights, their solid-wood frame, laminate tabletops, and cast aluminum corner joints are designed to ensure longevity. tabletops are available in round, square or rectangular options, in black or white laminate, with optional chair hangers beneath the tabletop for added convenience.

ascalon’s preludia series is his first collaboration with carl hansen & søn – and the company’s first collaboration with an american designer. the collection will be available from may 2018.

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