Two Crafts, One Form: Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel by Fredericia

Two Crafts, One Form:
ND83 Lounge Chair and ND82 Sofa

Fredericia reissues two early designs by Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel: the ND83 Lounge Chair from 1952 and the ND82 Sofa from 1957. Created during the years the couple shared a studio, they offer an early glimpse of ideas Nanna Ditzel would pursue throughout her career: how furniture can accommodate the body, and how a seat can create a space of its own.

Nanna jorgen ditzel ND82 sofa

Both designs balance an enveloping form with a light, open structure. The upholstered seat and back curve around the body, while the slender wooden frame remains exposed, running along the outside of the form rather than hiding beneath the upholstery. There is comfort in the sense of enclosure, but also a feeling of freedom. It is comfort understood as more than softness, shaped as much by the space a piece of furniture creates around us.

The ND83 Lounge Chair was first presented at the exhibition Home Furnishings – Contemporary Furniture in Copenhagen in 1952. In the decades since, both designs have found their way into settings as varied as the Sydney Opera House and The Standard in New York, moving as naturally between public and private spaces as between formality and ease. More than seventy years on, the pieces join the Fredericia collection.

ND 5082 leather darkbrown walnut

CRAFTED IN TWO DANISH WORKSHOPS

There is an apparent simplicity to the ND83 and ND82, but their making requires two distinct crafts. Each piece is made in Denmark and passes through Fredericia’s own cabinetmaking and upholstery workshops.

At Fredericia Joinery, the company’s cabinetmaking workshop, the base is made from solid oak or walnut, shaped through precise construction and careful joining of its slender wooden elements. In the upholstery workshop, the character changes. Moulded foam is built up and shaped around the body, giving the pieces their distinctive enveloping form.

It is in the meeting of these two crafts that the designs come to life. Wood provides structure and lightness, while upholstery brings volume, silhouette and comfort. Together, they achieve a sense of balance: intimacy without heaviness. The division between frame and upholstery also opens up new possibilities: seat and back can be specified in two different fabrics or leathers.

ND 5083 vanir 913 walnut

NANNA DITZEL AT FREDERICIA

In 1989, Nanna Ditzel became Fredericia’s second in-house designer, following Børge Mogensen. By then, her career had taken her far beyond the work she had created with Jørgen Ditzel, yet the curiosity and spirit of experimentation that characterised their early years remained central to her practice. With the reintroduction of the ND83 Lounge Chair and ND82 Sofa, Fredericia Furniture revisits this formative period and brings two of the Ditzels’ early designs into the collection.

Nanna jorgen ditzel ND83 loungechair 3

MODELS

The ND83 Lounge Chair and ND82 Sofa have a solid oak or walnut base and an upholstered seat and back, available in textile or leather. Wood finishes include Oak Soap, Oak Oil, Smoked Oak Oil and Walnut Oil. The seat and back can be upholstered in two different fabrics or leathers.

Nanna på Vibevej

Nanna Ditzel (1923–2005) was one of Denmark’s most versatile designers. She trained as a cabinetmaker and studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts under Kaare Klint, where she met her future husband and creative partner, Jørgen Ditzel (1921–1961). The two established their own studio in 1946, developing furniture, textiles and objects with a shared curiosity for new materials, bold forms and unconventional ideas. Throughout the 1950s, their work was exhibited and recognised for its innovative approach.

After Jørgen’s passing in 1961, Nanna developed her own distinctive design language, informed by poetry and art and expressed through vibrant colour, sculptural forms and unwavering curiosity. Over six prolific decades, her work moved freely across furniture, textiles, jewellery and other fields.

Her collaboration with Fredericia began in 1989, when Thomas Graversen, then stepping into the next generation of the family business, embraced her vision and she became the company’s second house designer after Børge Mogensen. Her work remains an important part of the collection today.

Images and content courtesy of Fredericia.