School Furniture
Erik Magnussen's parents sent him to Bernadotteskolen north of Copenhagen which was inspired by the Summerhill School in England. The belief was that the school should be made to fit the child - not the other way around, and the school was run as a democratic community.
Later – along with the headmaster’s son Per Kragh-Müller – he designed school furniture for KEVI to make the children understand that the world could be organized in other ways. A chair could have an unusual structure, and not necessarily four legs.
Participation in democracy as a style of being and living together, not just as a form of management and government, is always relevant. In the best case the school can function as the workshop of democracy and create the necessary communication. It is therefore important that furnishings and inventory have the character of useful things that stimulate contact and creativity.
The school desk is a large table, a real workplace instead of the small, austere desks that schools formerly used. The adjustable height meets the requirement for comfort and convenience, and the assembly possibilities are innumerable.
The table was made for one person, but to be combined with other tables. It isn’t unidirectional – on the contrary it is open to different combinations. The large tabletop permits bags to be hung on the inside. The table is stackable.
You only need a single screw to mount the tabletop.
The chair, in strong tubing and without welding, is suspended directly from the table. The chair was made in two heights – stackable. It has only one vertical leg, which reduces the noise level.
These, and many of Erik Magnussen’s tube furniture designs came from playing with wire.
Since Marcel Breuer designed his first tube chair, modernists have been engaged in creating the most simple tube chair. Both aesthetically and because of the potential of making and affordable chair.
