Over the last 2 years, my acquisition searches have been focused more and more on finding pieces in the wild made by Danish Cabinetmakers. Due to the handmade, low-volume nature of their workshops, these pieces are a small percentage of the overall Danish Modern resale market, probably even moreso in the US compared to Denmark. Cabinetmaker construction focused on use of traditional wood joints such as mortise-and-tenon, whereas factory construction (which arose to address the significant overseas volume needs after WWII) utilized more dowels and/or screws for joints, to reduce cost and time.
Works from the top tier of cabinetmakers, like Niels Vodder, Johannes Hansen, Christensen & Larsen, and A.J. Iversen, are well-known and rarely fall through the cracks to where I am lurking below. However, there were smaller cabinetmakers that do not have the same name cachet as the big guys, and therefore can often be acquired for a reasonable sum. A. Andersen & Bohm is such an example.
Until I gained access to Grete Jalk's four-volume tome on the Copenhagen Cabinetmakers' guild exhibitions 2 years ago, I had never heard of A. Andersen & Bohm. Their main architect designer, Kurt Olsen, is better known in the US, but more for his pieces for Slagelse Mobelvaerk. As Olsen designed pieces for A. Andersen & Bohm's exhibition booth almost every year from 1948-66, there is quite an extensive libary of furniture designs that came out of this collaboration (which is well documented in the DFI). Perhaps they were not interested in the export market to US, which would help explain their limited name recognition and lack of available pieces in the US.
Recently a teak wall shelf with cubbyhole popped up on eBay which was fully marked with both Kurt Olsen as the designer and A. Andersen & Bohm as the maker. The shelf makes an appearance in the 1955 guild exhibition booth, along with a sister shelf design that does not have a cubby hole (note there is a small error in the book where the caption numbers are reversed). I have not yet been able to find another example for either shelf design, googling in either the US or Denmark. That is a bit surprising as the formality of the stamp marks on the back would seem to indicate that there were a decent number of them produced.
Being simple in design and concept, I instantly became a fan of its elegance. While there were a few watchers, I was still able to get it for a decent best offer, to add to my slowly-growing collection of cabinetmaker pieces. I foresee it going up near the back kitchen door, with cookbooks on top, and the cubbyhole used for keys, etc.
While this probably will not be a popular thread due to low example volume, it would be nice if future A. Andersen & Bohm acquisitions made their way here.
<img class="wpforoimg" src=" http://d1t1u890k7d3ys.cloudfront.net/cdn/farfuture/dbVwcU949T3PimxcbJEGCX
Well, I tend to get more interested in a particular cabinetmaker during the process of possible acquisitions; as opposed to looking to assemble comprehensive lists and then doing targeted searches.
I did put together a thread for P.A. Pedersen, who was based in Brande, not Copenhagen. Copenhagen-based snedkermesters enjoyed the most popularity, in part due to the smart awareness and marketing campaigns of the Copenhagen Guild back in the day, and then later, Grete Jalk's compilation of their exhibitions. Tracking down info for non-Copenhagen cabinetmakers is a more onerous task.
https://www.designaddict.com/forum/Identification/Peder-Pedersen-or-PA-Pe...
great looking little shelf........and I like the idea of having threads designated to the discussion of some of these lesser known cabinetmakers. I'm always on the lookout for cabinetmaker pieces, but to say that they are few and far between in my area is as understated as it gets. Thanks for the post, I look forward to the discussion.
Well, Johannes Aasbjerg's full name ist Jhs. Aasbjerg Andersen, thus the idea is not that far fetched - but he had his business in Gentofte. Andersen og Bohm are from Copenhagen.
It really can be irritating that in Danmark so many people share the same family names. I've alwasy wondered if Niels Vodder and Arne Vodder were relatives. As a young man Arne Vodder was an apprentice in Niels Vodder's workshop. Anyone?
"People buy a chair, and they don't really care who designed it." (Arne Jacobsen)
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