DesignerDanish
Henning Kjaernulf
5 active items
Henning Kjærnulf remains one of the more intriguing figures in mid-century Danish furniture design - not because of obscurity in his output, but because his biography has proven stubbornly difficult to document despite the enduring demand for his pieces. Historical archives from the Danish municipality of Stenlille confirm that he worked as an architect based in Odense, and records indicate a connection to the name Henry Kjærulff Rasmussen, reportedly born in 1911 in Ubberud, near Odense. Whether these records fully account for the designer is a matter still discussed among collectors and researchers.
What is certain is the range and quality of what he produced. Kjærnulf designed for at least three distinct Danish manufacturers: EG Kvalitetsmøbel (also known as EK Kvalitet or EG Møbler), Nyrup Møbelfabrik, and Vejle Stole og Møbelfabrik. Each relationship produced different results - EG Kvalitetsmøbel brought out his most architecturally ambitious seating, Vejle Stole produced extending dining tables in teak and rosewood, and Nyrup Møbelfabrik manufactured dining chairs with a more restrained, linear character.
His two most recognizable chair designs operate at opposite ends of a formal spectrum. The Razorblade chair takes its name from the slim, curved profile of its backrest, which is carved from solid oak with a precision that gives the piece an almost graphic quality from the side. It pairs the structural logic of Scandinavian modernism with an edge that suggests something closer to Baroque figuration. The Kurul armchair draws on a different historical reference entirely: the Roman sella curulis, the folding stool associated with judicial and civic authority. Kjærnulf retained the X-frame silhouette while eliminating the folding mechanism, producing a sculptural, stable form in solid oak with the two lateral slats extending upward to form both armrests and backrest in a single gesture.
Both designs have aged exceptionally well on the secondary market. Sets of Razorblade dining chairs and Kurul armchairs appear regularly through European dealers and auction platforms, with sets priced from roughly 1,400 to over 9,000 USD depending on condition and completeness. The teak extending dining tables from Vejle are also consistently sought after for their engineering elegance: the extension leaves store neatly within the table structure itself, preserving the clean surface line when not in use.
On the Swedish auction market, Kjærnulf's furniture circulates with notable regularity given that it is Danish in origin. His 35 items in the Auctionist index span chairs, dining tables, storage, desks, and mirrors - a surprisingly broad range. Gomér and Andersson in Nyköping and Norrköping combined account for 11 lots, Crafoord Auktioner in Malmö for 8. The Kurul armchair reached 13,000 SEK at Stockholms Auktionsverk Magasin 5, the highest recorded price in the dataset; a dining table in oak achieved 6,000 SEK, and a teak coffee table from Vejle Stole sold for 3,300 SEK.