Collection
Vintage Rocking Chairs
Vintage rocking chairs combine comfort with a very clear form – from bentwood rockers to Scandinavian designs of the 1950s and 60s. The collection includes originals from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia. Other armchairs are in our vintage armchairs category.
From Thonet to Scandinavia
We owe the rocking chair in its modern form to Michael Thonet. Around 1860 his company put into production a rocker made of steam-bent wood – light, elegant and suitable for manufacture in large series. That model set the direction for the next hundred years.
In the mid-20th century the rocker returned in a new guise. In 1944 Hans J. Wegner designed the J16 rocking chair in solid wood with a woven seat for the Danish cooperative FDB, and in 1956 the Finnish designer Ilmari Tapiovaara presented the Mademoiselle. Scandinavian designers treated the rocker as a piece for the living room, not the garden: made of good wood, with a comfortable back and runners shaped for a calm, even motion.
Scandinavian rockers
This group includes designs by Hans J. Wegner, Illum Wikkelsø and Ilmari Tapiovaara, as well as Swedish chairs. Scandinavian rocking chairs usually have a solid wood frame – oak, beech or teak – and an upholstered or woven seat. Before buying, check the length of the runners in the Dimensions tab: it determines how much space the chair needs when rocking.
Bentwood rockers from Czechoslovakia
Thonet’s factories operated in Moravia, among other places, which is why the bentwood tradition survived in Czechoslovakia after the war. The chair designed by Ludvík Volák was produced at the works in Holešov. A bentwood frame is light and springy; when buying, it is worth checking the glued joints where the runners meet the frame.
