First look: Fritz Hansen kicks-off the 70th anniversary celebration of Arne Jacobsen's ‘Series 7’ chair with a dawn chorus of colour

The design industry is littered with icons, or so the giddier faction of design journalists would tell us. We choose our ascriptions carefully at Wallpaper*, but there can be no dispute that Arne Jacobsen’s Series 7 chair for Fritz Hansen is indeed iconic. Archetypal even. And this year the manufacturer is celebrating the chair’s 70th anniversary with a series of activities under the banner: ‘Ever the Sevener’ with a nod to its Danish nickname. Celebrations kick off today with the launch of a limited edition release of a new colour palette called ‘7:14 AM’, based on the spectra of sunrise hues in the Danish dawn.

‘The official name of the chair is 3107, launched in 1955, and the seventh in the line of revolutionary chairs in plywood designed by Arne Jacobsen in collaboration with Fritz Hansen,’ explains Els Van Hoorebeek, Fritz Hansen’s new creative director. ‘Out in the world it became known as the Series 7, but affectionately at home in Denmark it is called the Sevener. Yes, you have seen the chair a lot, but have you really seen it? To get people to see it in a different light, what better way to do that than to show it in the context of Danish light, so important for people living in Denmark and something Denmark is famed for.’

The ‘7:14’ limited edition series is available in five colourways: 7:14 AM Blue, 7:14 AM Violet, 7:14 AM Pink, 7:14 AM Beige, 7:14 AM Green. A new iridescent base of zinc chrome reflects the light and the colours of the shells, accentuating the ethereal palette of the plywood shell, though the chairs are also available with the standard chrome base, too. ‘These intense sunsets and long sunrises in autumn are so special In Skagen (where Fritz Hansen is headquartered) for sure, but even in the city,’ Van Hoorebeek explains. ‘If you break down the colours you see this 7:14 AM palette, when you stack the chairs you get a feel for this fluent sunrise factor like refracted light. It is a limited edition for 2025, capturing this moment in time to celebrate 70 years by tapping into design and light.’

Van Hoorebeek expands upon the enduring appeal of the Series 7: ‘This chair has such a rich, rich history, if you go back to its origin, it reflects this crucial moment in time when Arne Jacobsen was experimenting with a new technique and material. Since its release it has been used in significant interiors but also daily lives in homes and workplaces. It is like a chameleon going into different things, adapting to different situations. That beautiful shape with a simple sensuous outline, made famous or infamous by Christine Keeler in the Lewis Morley photograph in 1963. The chair she was sitting on that’s now in the V&A Museum. It was a copy but that image boosted the real chair. And since then everyone has sat on it, Tina Turner has hers, the Spice Girls and so many more.’

‘7:14 AM’ is just the start of a year of activations by Fritz Hansen to bring renewed focus and appreciation to Jacobsen’s design. ‘Through 2025 we will present other sides, tapping into industrial craftsmanship, showing that you can add a crafted detail such as the hand-stitching you see on a handbag or saddle to a leather chair or exploring the third life by collaborating with other Sevener lovers,’ Van Hoorebeek reveals. ‘The message is: you can buy the Sevener because you like what it stood for in the past, you can be attracted to it because you discover it in the present, or you can fall for it because of what it has to offer in the future. I think it is the diversity of this chair that is the future. Everyone talks about sustainability, but this is the real thing, a chair that’s been around for 70 years and will be around for another 70 years.’ Surely the ultimate hallmark of a true icon.

Fritzhansen.com