No-compromise furniture art

Danish Modern from a new angle

There is no doubt that Peder Moos (1906-1991) was one of the greatest and most eccentric personalities within Danish furniture crafting. The cabinetmaker from Southern Jutland represented a unique approach and gave great emphasis to the organic, living character of his work. His restrained style and ability to sculpt wood almost as were it clay is still a source of wonderment.

Peder Moos’ furniture is modern in style, yet also draws on a century-old tradition of wood crafting. Nonetheless, he was somewhat of an anachronism in his day – a man dedicated to traditional wood crafting in an age of growing industrial rationalisation and the emergence of new materials. At a time when workshops were becoming increasingly mechanised many of Peder Moos’ cabinetmaker peers were dumbfounded by his orthodoxy in refusing to embrace mechanisation and serial production.

Peder Moos even avoided using screws, preferring the old fashioned way of giving visual emphasis to crafted joints. Indeed, he always sought original and uncompromising ideas:

“My furniture isn’t strange at all, in my view. On the contrary, I give emphasis to not making them look strange. Nor do I strive to develop new shapes. The reason why my objects stand out from traditional ones is that I don’t want them to be influenced by a specific style. I simply strive to execute them as correctly and as powerfully as possible.”

One-off designs

Naturally, working so methodically was extremely time consuming. His furniture was mainly commissioned as bespoke designs, which often meant clients had to wait for quite some time before delivery. Since most of his production consists of commissioned pieces, they were also extremely costly and often featured as instant museum pieces. Peder Moos only created two designs that were put into production by other manufacturers, one of which was a table produced by Fritz Hansen. So he can hardly be accused of pandering to “democratic design” – one of the tenets of Functionalism.

Peder Moos furniture in the auction

Items of Peder Moos furniture are among the highlights of this autumn’s auction – for example the oval prototype palisander low table designed in 1956, which has been in the ownership of the Moos family up until now. So have the “Debut” standard lamp and palisander lampstand, not to mention the superb child chair and table.

View all the Moos furniture in the auction

View all items including in the auction

Preview: 22 - 26 September

Auction: 27 September - 4 October