Such a sad, sad day ...  

Very sad indeed
Hans J. Wegner was in many ways what most people understood as "Danish Modern" Flawlessly made, well proportioned,innovative yet often based on architypes of the furniture world's major cultures.
As I wrote in his bio on DA's index: Hans J. Wegner is the most innovative and prolific of all Danish furniture designers. He received almost all major honors given to designers, from the Lunning prize in 1951 and the grand prix of the Milan Triennale in the same year, to the Prince Eugen medal in Sweden and the Danish Eckersberg medal. In 1959 he was made honorary Royal designer for industry by the Royal Society of Arts in London. His furniture is part of all major design museum collections in the world: The Museum of Modern Art in N.Y., Die Neue Samlung in Munich and twenty other Museums.
Well beyond that he was the flag bearer of a small nation that through excellence made it on to the world stage. In a world obsessed by it's battles around resources of materials and energy it is worth to be reminded that a country like Denmark that has nothing of the kind is widely recognized as the most developed and pleasant to live in. Hans J. Wegner was without any doubt a major contributor to this well being and showed how far reaching the contribution of creativity is. Denmark has a great tradition in honoring it's designers, I am sure they will allow us to join in honoring Hans J. Wegner.

Wegner
This is big news. How would one go about acknowledging Wegner's contributions? Rather massive. I hope to see a couple books I hear have been in the works published soon. Probably Wegner showed the most dedicated application of his talents to making life better. I think of the Halyard chair and how much was allowed to make that possible - the space for comfort and smithing and imaginative combinings. I hope there is some serious aquavit poured in Denmark in his honor.

Dear Mr. Wegner...
If I have learned one thing on this site, it is that designers like to earn the respect of their peers for good work on one hand, and need occassionally to know that their good work is not just used, but affectionately appreciated by human beings that their designs were created for. They don't make a habit of saying this, but every once in awhile they let it slip. I suspect that if I had had the privilege of knowing you, you too would have let it slip eventually. The paragons of every field have, behind their many personas, a human face and human heart.
Well, Mr. Wegner, I am one of those human beings you might have let slip about. Your designs fill me with wonder. They rekindle in me a sense of my own humanity. And I just plain feel exhilarated looking at some of them. This response is neither philosophical, nor academically abstract, Mr. Wegner. It is a real feeling I get in my heart and mind when I see your work.
Your death draws me to only one reasonable conclusion. God needs a new throne and he wants something splendidly elegant and breathtakingly unexpected, something that the living and the dead can point to and say, there, that's what God had in mind for us when God shared his gift of creativity with them; not half-baked ideas; not trendy mendacities; not microwave crowd control weapons, mini-nukes and torture apparatus, but magnificient, useful things made wisely and with a compassion and respect for every human being. We live in a time, Mr. Wegner, as I suspect you knew all too well, when there is an unusually wide chasm between the brilliance your work shows us we are capable of and the barbarism we have allowed our world to descend to. Your designs may inspire designers to design better things and that would be all to the good, Mr. Wegner, but hear me where ever you are: your designs will remind me, and I suspect many others, in a concrete way, and for years to come, that human beings never have to, in deed, ought never to, settle for barbarism as a norm.
Best wishes always,
dcwilson

Slight correction...
Apparently the honorable Mr. Wegner died 1/26/07. His family just announced it today after they held their own private funeral and memorial services. Condolences to his family and a heartfelt thank you to Hans Wegner for a life well lived and for the creation of a life worth living.

May he rest in peace, what...
May he rest in peace, what an absolute gift with him we were given.
If the world were ever to acknowledge greatness, his name would be at the top of the list.

THANK YOU
must be said to Hans wegner for shaping the designs of all time. He will be sadly missed but always rememberd through his stunning designs.
Tusind tak fra Danish homestore
Simon
http://www.danish-homestore.com

Yes..very sad...
Im the first to admit i dont know anything of his designs as my taste in furniture is admittedly "wierd", but i think its the ch07 chair? it looks so clean and a little animalistic from the frontal view,fab!.Another good guy gone..not fair is it?...

The San Francisco
paper's Design Editor, a person named Zahid Sardar who is often correct, says Wegner's name "is pronounced Vay-ner in Danish."
His article in today's Home section is illustrated with these two photos of the man.
[I wish someone would tell me if this image is unacceptably pale; I sometimes think my screen is too dark, though I have it lightened all the way. Thanks.]

Zahid Sardar ...
has it right (on the prononciation that is. I would not have put in the "r" because it is hardly prononced. by the way, the pictures look fine to me