The Ant ( da, Myren) chair is a classic of modern

chair A chair is a type of seat, typically designed for one person and consisting of one or more legs, a flat or slightly angled seat and a back-rest. They may be made of wood, metal, or synthetic materials, and may be padded or upholstered in vario ...

design. It was designed in 1952 by

Arne Jacobsen Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA () 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple we ...

for use in the

canteen {{Primary sources, date=February 2007 Canteen is an Australian national support organisation for young people (aged 12–25) living with cancer; including cancer patients, their brothers and sisters, and young people with parents or primary carers ...

of the Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Industries (now

Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk A/S is a Danish multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Bagsværd, Denmark, with production facilities in nine countries, and affiliates or offices in five countries. Novo Nordisk is controlled by majority shareholder ...

Design

The Ant was named for its approximate similarity to the outline of an

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...

with its

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

raised. The chair was designed to be light, stable, easy to stack up, and to minimise tangling the user's feet. The original model had three plastic legs and a seat made from form-moulded laminated veneer;

History

Jacobsen designed his first building for NOVO Industries on Nordre Fasanvej in 1934-1935 and continued to work for them throughout his career, building several factories in Denmark and Germany. The Ant chair was created for the canteen of the Novo factory in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

. Allegedly, Fritz Hansen had already been presented with Jacobsen's Ant chair design but was reluctant to put it into production. When a Novo director visited Jacobsen's studio and showed interest in the model, Jensen told him that it had been created for use in their canteen. Novo Industries ordered 300 of chairs, enough to convince Fritz Hansen that it should go into production. The chair has since proved very popular although the plastic in the legs was replaced by tubular

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

, and a version with four legs was also made.

Gallery

File:AJ 3101 ant - red.jpg, A four-legged version of the chair

References

External links

The Ant at Fritz Hansen's site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ant 1952 in art Chairs Arne Jacobsen furniture Individual models of furniture Stacking chairs