Danish furniture DNA turns 140

The architects Kaare Klint, Mogens Koch, Thorvald Bindesbøll and Martin Nyrop may be long gone but their furniture classics are more alive than ever. Treasured worldwide for their clear comfort and classical quality where form and function carefully meets the demand of modern life.

When Rud. Rasmussen Denmark celebrates its 140th birthday on May 11th, the company is run by the fourth and fifth generation Rasmussen. Here, in a quiet backyard in central Copenhagen lies the secret of Danish furniture DNA with the family Rasmussen: hours, honesty and skilled handwork.

In the workshop across the yard the bespoke furniture are still produced in the original handicraft tradition that leads directly back to 1869 and the founder Rudolph Rasmussen.

The birthday will be celebrated with a very skilled team in the workshop.
“We are happy and proud because 140 years of tradition and knowledge seldom remains in one family or workshop. Almost everything is still crafted by hand, though it makes the furniture pricier. But only so we can guarantee the quality that is meant to last for generations”, says Malene la Cour Rasmussen, who runs the family business with her parents.

In 2007 the Danish Ministry of Culture named Rud. Rasmussen a national treasure but it’s not only history that rests behind the green door – form, function and tradition created by people who believe so much in the future that they create furniture for it.

In the workshop/joinery trained eyes and hands carefully select the perfect pieces of wood that are puzzled together and turned into the highest synthesis of form, function and aesthetics, delivered with care from generation to generation.

Yes, it takes time, yes a Kaare Klint-chair takes months because every inch of the production is examined carefully. Here lies the secret of beauty and style, the mere DNA of Danish furniture art.

In the latest issue of Monocle Rud. Rasmussen is selected one of the top five workshops in the world, a great honour to the family Rasmussen and to Danish bespoke furniture.

About Rud. Rasmussen Denmark:
Under the leading hand of Jørgen Rud. Rasmussen 35 devoted employees work with production and sales of Danish bespoke furniture. His wife Elisabeth la Cour is in charge of the upholstery department and his daughter Malene la Cour Rasmussen is in sales, also in the four storey furniture showroom in central Copenhagen. Here Rud. Rasmussen carries not only their own products such as the Faaborg chair, the Folding chair, the Addition sofa, the Safari chair or the Mogens Koch bookcases, but also other Danish classics from the likes of Børge Mogensen, Hans J. Wegner or Poul Kjærholm. Open daily 10-17.30, Saturday 10- 14; shipping worldwide