Peter Hvidt & Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen

Rare and beautiful two-leaf solid teak oval table by Peter Hvidt & Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen for France & Søn /France & Daverkosen, Denmark, late 1950s. Two stamps under the top.

Set of 6 chairs by Ray & Charles Eames; sold.

In the 20th century, the vast majority of furniture was made from chipboard veneered with more or less precious woods. A tiny minority was made from solid wood, because solid wood was both more expensive and more complex to work with. Together, designer Peter Hvidt and manufacturer France & Søn /France & Daverkosen have created some of the finest solid teak tables and storage units of the 20th century.

The history of France & Søn / France & Daverkosen

After businessman Charles William Fearnley France (1897-1972) moved to Denmark from his native England in 1936, he began operating a small mattress factory with his friend Eric Daverkosen, a Danish cabinetmaker, under the name France & Daverkosen. Shortly afterwards, Daverkosen died and, when Denmark was invaded during the Second World War, Charles was captured and sent to a prison camp in Germany. After his release, the British entrepreneur went into furniture production in the early 1950s, opening a workshop in Hillerød to make the kind of beech and teak products that were gaining a large following in Denmark.