4210 Oksen Footstool

Oksen Footstool accompanies the iconic Oksen armchair.

Oksen is an armchair designed by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen in 1966. Unlike many of Jacobsen's other pieces of furniture, the Oksen was not intended for a specific project, but a product of years of experimentation. The chair was considered quite rare among critics because of its short original production period and its controversial but powerful expression. It took Arne Jacobsen no less than five years to develop Oksen and unlike many of his previous pieces of furniture which are distinguished by rounded, organic shapes, this armchair has a much sharper contour.

Oksen is both distinctive and assertive in its style, and the inspiration is clearly the American recliner type that Jacobsen had seen in the US. Moreover, it can be seen as a backlash against Jacobsen as a designer who had previously worked with a soft sculptural form. The ox is also sculptural but in a completely different tight shape and designed in a style in line with the soft king furniture and the harder Oxford furniture in Fritz Hansen's collection.