Solid Mahogany Table
Sigurd Højland Olsen, 1980s

Description:

A solid mahogany table with pull out board made and designed by Sigurd Højland Olsen in Denmark between 1970-1980. 

This long dining table is one of the few works designed and made by the esteemed Danish cabinetmaker, Sigurd Højland Olsen, known for his work with Nanna Ditzel and part of a modern generation of cabinetmakers in Denmark during the 1980s. 

Olsen collaborated on numerous pieces exhibited at Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling (Cabinetmaker's Autumn Exhibition), which replaced the longstanding Copenhagen Cabinetmaker's Guild Exhibition which ran from 1927-1966. The new Autumn Exhibition launched in 1981, reviving the spirit of the Guild Exhibitions by celebrating Danish craftspersonship and considered design.

"Furniture can be a tool and a sculpture", the 1982 exhibition catalogue declared, the same exhibition in which Olsen produced the prototype for beech stacking chairs by Ditzel. "Furniture characterises people, people characterise furniture", it continued. Modularity was a defining feature of many of the pieces exhibited at the Autumn exhibitions. True to the catalogue, it was clear how people could "characterise furniture"- adapt it to their homes, their lives, and changing tastes. For example, after Ditzel's stacking chairs, another design produced by Olsen for the 1985 exhibition was Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen's "Ear Flap Bed", a bed made without nails that could convert from single to double.  

The innovative spirit of these exhibitions is truly present in Olsen's versatile and simply constricted mahogany table. A piece wide enough to be used as a dining table, yet thin enough to function as a side-board. The end bases of the table are loose from the substantial tabletop, allowing them to be moved to the very end to accomodate more guests if needed. Additionally, should a little more table space ever be needed, pulling the neat leather tab reveals a pull-out tray. 

Specifications:

Materials: Mahogany and Leather

Design Period: 1970-1980

Height: 74cm

Depth: 60cm

Length: 260cm