Arne Wahl Iversen, Danish architect-designer Arne Wahl Iversen can be counted among the most significant midcentury modern Scandinavian designers

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Arne Wahl Iversen (1927-2016) born in Nyborg, Denmark

 

Arne got his interest in furniture from his father, who had a furniture shop in Nyborg. He first trained as a furniture carpenter and then took the furniture engineering education at Odense Technical School . From 1949 to 1951 he attended the Academy of Fine Arts , the school of furniture art under the direction of Kaare Klint .

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At the age of 25, Arne Wahl Iversen started a drawing room in his hometown . His ambition was to make elegant and functional furniture of a high craftsmanship quality.

 

In 1957, he entered into a collaboration with Ingvar Kamprad , who was in the process of establishing IKEA in the Swedish market. By this time, well-known names such as Arne Jacobsen , Finn Juhl and Hans Wegner had made Danish furniture art world famous, and Kamprad therefore wanted the young architect to design furniture for his business. However, the collaboration ended after a few years when Arne Wahl Iversen chose to go his own way.

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Arne Wahl Iversen got his furniture manufactured at many different factories around Denmark, but he is probably best known for the models from Comfort and Winde Furniture Factory . In 1968, his bedroom no. 92 from Vinde Furniture Factory was at the furniture fair in Geneva . Monaco's Prince Rainier 3. and his wife Grace Kelly saw it at the exhibit and immediately ordered one. It provided good PR value and possibly helped his bedroom furniture become popular in the US market.

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Initially his furniture was primarily sold in Denmark, but from the late 60s there was a higher sales to the major European countries and the US market. Arne Wahl Iversen was active until the mid 80's .