Niels Gammelgaard and Lars Mathiesen. Pelikan Design

NIELS GAMMELGAARD (Copenhagen, 1944) and LARS MATHIESEN (1950), Pelikan Design, for Fritz Hansen.
Set of four “Pelikan” bar stools, designed in 1983. Produced in 1987.
Hot-dip galvanized steel and rubber.
Marked and labeled by Fritz Hansen. “Made in Denmark” labels, dated 1987.
Good condition with signs of use.
Measurements: 97 x 50 x 50 cm, each.

Conceived in 1983 at the height of Europe’s café culture boom, the “Pelikan” series was one of the most distinctive designs developed by Niels Gammelgaard and Lars Mathiesen at their Pelikan Design studio for Fritz Hansen. Their approach was based on a fundamentally functional idea: to create furniture capable of withstanding outdoor conditions, using weather-resistant materials and a deliberately robust construction.

In these stools, the curved tubular backrest visually extends the slender legs, while the split seat and circular footrest reflect a design stripped down to its essential elements. The central opening in the seat was not merely a formal device: in the original series, it allowed water to drain away and facilitated stacking, integrating function and expression into a design with an industrial and straightforward appearance.

Gammelgaard and Mathiesen founded Pelikan Design in 1978 and jointly developed numerous industrial design projects. Among their collaborations with Fritz Hansen, the 1983 Café series and, later, the 1986 Decision series stand out, as part of a body of work characterized by functional solutions that are structurally clear and free of any superfluous ornamentation.