Carl Hansen & Son: Vilhelm Lauritzen’s VLA61 Monarch Chair is available to the public for the first time

Carl Hansen & Son at Milan Design Week 2023 presents the VLA61 Monarch Chair, designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen

The name of the VLA61 Monarch Chair comes from the majestic monarch butterfly, a tribute to Lauritzen's great passion for butterflies, of which he was a lifelong student.

Thanks to its structure with curved armrests and the generous padding, the chair embodies an artistic expression that is both light and sumptuous strong>.

Details, such as the brass feet and hand-polished joints, testify to the consistency of Lauritzen's style. The production of the VLA61 Monarch Chair is long and laborious for the expert cabinetmakers of Carl Hansen & Son, as different parts of the chair have curvatures and double curvatures.

Furthermore all the pieces are hand-polished before being assembled, after which to obtain a perfect finish, the whole chair, especially around the joints, is hand-polished again. The backrest is only upholstered after it has been fitted to achieve precise finishes around the armrests and legs – a task that requires the utmost care of the skilled upholsterers at Carl Hansen & They are.

Knud Erik Hansen, managing director and third generation owner of Carl Hansen & Son, says of the launch: “With the VLA61 Monarch Chair, we add another masterpiece by Vilhelm Lauritzen to the vast collection of iconic designs from Carl Hansen & Son. Last year we presented the Vega Chair and the Foyer series, in collaboration with Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects to celebrate the company's 100th anniversary, and they were welcomed worldwide. We are delighted and proud to be able to further spread the knowledge of Danish design around the world and to present Vilhelm Lauritzen's furniture to a global audience, in line with his democratic philosophy.”

Anne Møller Sørensen, partner at Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, says: “The Monarch Chair is stunningly beautiful and bears the clear signature of Vilhelm Lauritzen. The double-curved armrests and beautiful organic structure give the chair a clear expression with such a high level of comfort that it literally embraces the user when they sit down. We chose Carl Hansen & Son for the production of the chair, which proved to be a real challenge, as we never found one of the ten original chairs. We therefore had to work from the original sketches, detailed hand drawings, old photos and auction descriptions. In the process, we focused on getting as close to the original design as possible, while also giving the chair a contemporary expression.”

VLA61 Monarch Chair will be in stores from June 2023.