Finn Juhl

Leopold and Irja Marjatta Rönnman, Helsinki, Finland.

Leopold Rönnman (born Gustav Adolf Rönnman) and his wife Irja Marjatta Rönnman, née Tuominen, ran the interior design shop Interiors during the Golden Age of Scandinavian design. The shop was located on Fredrikinkatu in Helsinki. Interiors had exclusive rights in the Finnish market to sell products from leading contemporary Danish, Swedish and Norwegian designers and manufacturers of furniture and luminaires. The little family business had close co-operation with designers, such as Hans J. Wegner, Hans-Agne Jakobsson and Björn Wiinblad. This co-operation developed into a deep friendship, allowing the Rönnmans to acquire exclusive objects into their personal apartment and summer house. Towards the end of the 1970s, Stockmann purchased the Interiors’ furniture rights and Interiors focused on lighting only. After Leopold passed away at the end of the 70s, Irja continued to carry out the business.

The Danish architect and designer Finn Juhl is considered one of Scandinavia's most influential persons in modern furniture design. Juhl studied from 1930 to 1934 at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture and, while still a student, secured work with the Danish architect Vilhelm Lauritzen. This was followed by a series of prestigious assignments as a furniture designer both in Denmark and internationally, including work at the UN Headquarters in New York and the Danish embassy in Washington.
Instead of viewing furniture solely as practical constructions, Finn Juhl drew inspiration from an organic design language, where materials and form interacted in symbiosis. Like a sculptor, Juhl often drew inspiration from the shapes of the human body and nature's own constructions, fully leveraging the strength of materials. Juhl's ideas resulted in daring, supple joinery where each element elegantly merged into a balanced whole.
Finn Juhl's furniture, created in collaboration with master cabinetmaker Niels Vodder, introduced a new language to the world of furniture and made a significant impact with its advanced models, such as "The Chieftain chair" and "Grasshopper."