Egg™ de Fritz Hansen

Arne Jacobsen designed the Egg™ for the lobby and reception areas in the Royal Hotel, in Copenhagen. The commission to design every element of the hotel building as well as the furniture was Jacobsen’s grand opportunity to put his theories of integrated design and architecture into practice. The Egg is one of the triumphs of Jacobsen’s total design - a sculptural contrast to the building’s almost exclusively vertical and horizontal surfaces. The Egg sprang from a new technique, which Jacobsen was the first to use; a strong foam inner shell underneath the upholstery. Like a sculptor, Jacobsen strove to find the shell’s perfect shape in clay at home in his own garage. Because of the unique shape, the Egg guarantees a bit of privacy in otherwise public spaces and the Egg – with or without footstool – is ideal for lounge and waiting areas as well as the home. The Egg is available in a wide variety of fabric upholstery as well as leather, always combined with a star shaped base in satin polished aluminium.

The shell is of polyurethane foam with glass fibre reinforcement. The shell has an adjustable tilt fitting which can be adjusted to the weight of the individual user. The tilt mechanism is made of steel sheet, steel tubing and spring steel. The adjustment handle is of polished drawn stainless steel. The base consists of a satin chromed, turnable centre part of welded steel tubing (dia38 x 2 mm), a spindle of dia. 28 mm machining steel and a 4-star base in injection moulded aluminium. The leg ferrules are made of moulded black polyamide.

The Egg may be upholstered with fabric or leather (see below).

Length: 79 (95) cm
Width: 86 cm
Height: 107 cm
Total weight: 18,1 kg

The foam for the upholstery and the seat cushion is cold cured polyurethane foam. Standard fabrics for the Egg include Kvadrat Hallingdal (70% wool and 30% viscose), Tonus (90% wool and 10% nylon), Bass (92% worsted wool and 8% nylon) and Topas (100% pure worsted wool) a well as leather.