Jens Vilhelm Harald Malling Pedersen

JENS VILHELM HARALD MALLING PEDERSEN (1920 - 2008).
Exceptional "Pelikan" armchair, design 1951.
Beech wood, brass hardware and olive green fabric upholstery.
Presents original manufacturer's label.
Measurements: 116 x 77 x 85 cm; 47 cm (seat height).
Exceptional "Pelikan" high back armchair with generously padded frame and upholstered in olive green fabric. Sculpted beech outer arms with brass hardware. Designed in 1951 and manufactured by Dantos, Vejle, during the 1950s.
The Pelikan armchair is a rare and virtually forgotten model that, in the Danish context, may seem a singularity; however, in a broader European context, it bears affinities to Italian design of the same period. It was presented at the Fredericia Furniture Fair in 1951 by Dantos of Vejle, a manufacturer primarily of sofa beds and multifunctional furniture intended for small apartments.
The company used the slogan: "Vil de ha' Dem en Lur er det Dantos der duer", which could be translated as "When you need a nap, Dantos is the ideal choice".
The chair was presented at that fair as part of a series that also included a sofa bed with armrests of the same "Pelikan" profile. While the sleeper sofa was produced and advertised sporadically thereafter, the armchair appears to have had a very limited production run after its initial showing. The Dantos company continued in business until the 1970s.
The name Pelikan might seem to be an established reference, given that this is how one of designer Finn Juhl's most iconic pieces, created in 1940, is known. However, it is worth remembering that neither Juhl nor contemporary critics originally employed that name, referring to the piece rather as a form similar to "tired walruses." The name Pelikan became associated with Juhl's work probably much later, around the 1980s.
Thus, when Dantos introduced his Pelikan Model in 1951, there was no conflict or confusion with Juhl's work: it was, quite simply, Dantos' Pelikan.
The Pelikan was designed by architect Jens Malling Pedersen, who, as a young man, dabbled briefly in furniture design. Malling Pedersen first trained as a carpenter before becoming an architect, opening his studio in 1945. He ran his office in the city of Vejle for approximately fifty years, becoming a central figure in local life and one of the architects responsible for defining the modern face of the city in the post-war period. His office had as many as 35 employees, working on projects both in Vejle and elsewhere in Denmark.
His masterpiece is the small but remarkable Grejsdalen Church (1961), located on a hillside on the outskirts of Vejle, where the dramatic modernist exterior is combined with a masterful treatment of the interior light. Within its category, it can be considered one of the most significant buildings in Denmark in that period.
His foray into furniture design follows the trajectory of many Danish modernist architects of the early postwar period, who experimented briefly with furniture design before devoting themselves fully to residential and urban architecture.