Mid-Century Modern Interior Design
What Is a Wishbone Chair? Danish Design with a Twist
Hans J. Wegner drew the wishbone chair in 1949, and Carl Hansen & Son has built it without interruption since 1950. It is a Danish modern dining chair with one steam-bent rail that forms both the backrest and the armrests, a Y-shaped back beneath that rail, and a hand-woven paper cord seat.
It also goes by CH24 and the Y chair.
The Carl Hansen & Son product sheet lists a weight of 5.25 kg and a rating for adults up to 110 kg under the EN 16139:2013 Level 1 test. A light frame with a high rating.
What Is a Wishbone Chair?
Wegner folded the backrest and the armrest into one steam-bent top rail, held it up with a Y-shaped back, and finished the chair with a hand-woven paper cord seat. Carl Hansen & Son has produced the design since 1950.
The popular name comes from the shape of the back. CH24 is the model code at Carl Hansen & Son, and Y chair is the same back described as a letter.
Wegner developed the Y-shaped back to stabilize the steam-bent top, and the back gave the chair its nickname, according to Carl Hansen & Son.
Designers place it in mid-century modern interiors as readily as in contemporary dining rooms. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds one in its collection (object number 2017.454).
Who Designed the Wishbone Chair, and Where Did the Design Come From?
Wegner designed it in 1949 and Carl Hansen & Son started producing it in 1950. It was the last chair in a series he began in 1944, all based on portraits of Danish merchants sitting in Ming dynasty chairs, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Wegner and the Ming chair series
Wegner was born in Tønder, Denmark, in 1914 and trained as a cabinetmaker before moving into architecture and furniture design. He opened his own studio in 1943 and drew the first Chinese chair a year later.
He died in Copenhagen in 2007, aged 92. Any shortlist of mid-century modern furniture designers includes him.
The company’s own numbers don’t agree with each other. The CH24 product sheet from Carl Hansen & Son says Wegner created almost 500 chairs, while other company copy says more than 500. Treat 500 as a round number, not a count.
A second wrinkle. The CH24 product sheet calls the chair the very first model Wegner designed exclusively for the company, while other company copy says one of the very first. Wegner delivered four chairs in 1949 (CH22, CH23, CH24 and CH25). The Met, meanwhile, calls the CH24 the last of the Ming-inspired series. The Met’s statement is about Wegner’s own series and the manufacturer’s is about his work for Carl Hansen & Son, so the two do not clash.
Carl Hansen & Son and the 1950 launch
Knud Erik Hansen, the third-generation owner, told Design Milk that his grandfather started the company in Odense. The chair itself is built in Gelsted, on the island of Funen (Carl Hansen & Son; the Metropolitan Museum of Art record also names Gelsted).
- Wegner opens his own design studio in 1943
- The first Chinese chair follows in 1944, which starts the Ming-inspired series
- In 1949 Holger Hansen meets Wegner at a Copenhagen cabinetmakers’ exhibition (Carl Hansen & Son)
- The wishbone chair is designed that same year
- Production begins at Carl Hansen & Son in 1950
For many years it was the only product the company made, and it sold without a catalogue, price list or any promotion, per Design Milk’s factory tour.
How Is a Wishbone Chair Built?
Each chair is assembled from 14 wooden parts through more than 100 production steps, most of them by hand, according to Carl Hansen & Son.
The steam-bent top rail and Y-shaped back
One piece does the work of two. Wegner merged the backrest and armrest into a single curved rail, and the Y-shaped back is what keeps that rail stable.
- Steam softens the wood so a straight length can be bent around the sitter
- The Y-shaped back braces the rail and supports the spine
Wegner described his own goal as cutting the chair down to four legs, a seat and a combined top rail and armrest.
Assembly, step by step
Carl Hansen & Son’s production notes list the frame stages in this order.
- Parts are pressed into place with a compressor built only for this chair
- The wishbone part is glued into the backrest
- Backrest and wishbone part are assembled onto the frame
- The feet are sanded until the chair stands level
- The surface is treated (oil, soap, lacquer or paint), followed by a final quality check
The chair passes through eight sets of skilled hands before it leaves the factory, says the company.
Worth keeping in mind that the 14 parts and the 100 steps are the manufacturer’s own counts. No independent audit has published them.
What Wood, Paper Cord and Finishes Does the Wishbone Chair Come In?
The frame comes in oak, beech, ash, walnut, mahogany or teak, the seat in natural or black paper cord, and the surface in oil, soap, lacquer or paint (Carl Hansen & Son).
Wood species
- The product sheet describes the oak version as FSC-certified
- Beech is the wood in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s example
- Ash is a Danish hardwood, sold alongside oak and beech
- Walnut is the North American option
- Mahogany and teak show up in the production notes, and Carl Hansen & Son reintroduced the chair in FSC-certified teak in 2022
The paper cord seat
A single seat takes about 120 meters of paper cord and roughly an hour of weaving by a skilled craftsman, according to Carl Hansen & Son. That works out to about two meters of cord a minute.
Natural cord is unbleached paper and black cord is dyed. Both are FSC-certified and carry a thin wax layer that helps repel stains.
The company’s care page says the cord needs little or no maintenance and is designed to last for years.
Finishes and colors
Surface treatment adds durability and makes cleaning easier. Soaped oak develops a patina over time, per the company’s product notes.
Soaped beech keeps a pale, clean tone that suits Scandinavian interiors, according to UK retailer Innes.
Color is the newest layer. To mark more than 70 years of the CH24, Carl Hansen & Son asked designer Ilse Crawford to create nine new colors for the line (as listed by Finnish Design Shop and Connox).
Wishbone Chair Dimensions, Weight and Price
The chair measures 55 cm wide, 51 cm deep and 76 cm high and weighs 5.25 kg. Across the US retailers checked it lists between $885 and $1,970, depending on seller, wood and finish.
Size and weight
The CH24 product sheet and retailer listings give a width of 55 cm, a depth of 51 cm, a height of 76 cm and a seat height of 45 cm. Weight is 5.25 kg without packaging.
Retailer listings split between 75 and 76 cm for height, so allow a centimeter either way.
Vintage chairs run differently. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s example, made between about 1950 and 1979, measures 72.4 by 57.2 by 51.1 cm (height, width, depth), so hold a secondhand chair against your table before buying.
What the chair costs
The same model lists from $885 to $1,970 across the US retailers checked, according to listings reviewed in October 2026.
| Retailer | Market | Listed price |
|---|---|---|
| Design Within Reach | US | $885 to $1,355 by variant |
| Suite NY | US | From $1,600 (oak) and from $1,970 (walnut) |
| Holloways of Ludlow | UK | GBP 562 (natural paper cord seat) |
| Lino | Czech Republic | CZK 15,948 incl. VAT |
Wood, finish and cord color differ between listings, so a gap between two prices is not always a markup. Compare chairs with the same specification.
How Do You Tell an Original Wishbone Chair From a Replica?
Start with the top rail and the seat weave, then measure the gap between seat and Y-shaped back, then look at the label. Be Original Americas and 1stDibs sellers both point to a single-piece top rail and a 10 mm gap from seat to Y as the physical tests that matter most.
| Check | Original | Replica tendency |
|---|---|---|
| Top rail | One piece of bent wood | Two or three pieces, visible seams |
| Seat weave | Tight, more cord lines across the center | Fewer lines in the center |
| Seat-to-Y gap | 10 mm | Any other gap usually signals a copy |
| Label | Serial number and Wegner signature on current chairs, plaque or stamp on older ones | Weak test, since labels also come loose on real chairs |
None of this is as solid as it sounds. Every marker comes from sellers or a brand campaign, not an independent test.
Knots prove nothing. One UK retailer treats knots and blemishes as a replica sign, yet Carl Hansen & Son’s own care guide says knots and color variation occur in solid wood. Wood species is no test either, since the Be Original guide names oak, walnut and ash while the manufacturer also builds the chair in beech.
The safest route is an authorized retailer. Design Within Reach, for one, sells the chair as an authenticated original from Carl Hansen & Son.
How Do You Care for a Wishbone Chair?
Wipe the seat with a tightly wrung cloth, keep detergent away from the paper cord, and treat the frame to match its finish: soap and water for soaped wood, sanding and fresh oil for oiled wood.
The paper cord seat
Use a tightly wrung soft cloth and a neutral, colorless soap solution, and only now and then. Frequent wiping wears the cord, so resist the urge to over-clean it.
A spill gets dabbed, not rubbed, to lift as much liquid as possible. Red wine, fruit juice and brightly colored food can discolor the cord if they are worked in. Detergent is out entirely.
For maximum protection, Carl Hansen & Son recommends adding a cushion.
The wood frame
Soaped frames get washed regularly with soap and water. Afterward, rub the chair with a clean cloth dipped in hot water and wrung out well to remove residual soap, and the wood needs no further oil or wax (Carl Hansen & Son’s wood care kit instructions, as published by retailer smow).
Oiled frames follow a different routine.
- Sand the surface by hand with a sanding sponge or fine sandpaper, grit 180 or 240
- Apply the oil with a clean cloth or sponge. Never pour it straight onto the wood
- Let the oil soak in for about two hours
- Wipe off the excess with a clean, dry cloth
Lacquered and painted frames have their own guides on the maintenance page of Carl Hansen & Son, so check the one for your finish before reaching for the oil.
When Is a Wishbone Chair the Wrong Choice?
It is the wrong choice for sitters above 110 kg, for households that cannot live with a cord seat that ages, and for anyone who needs chairs within a few weeks. Price decides the rest.
The load limit first. The product sheet restricts use to adults of 110 kg or less, based on the EN 16139:2013 Level 1 test for non-domestic seating. That is a tested rating, not a published breaking point.
The seat is a softer issue. Deeply colored textiles such as new blue jeans can discolor even natural cord, and the manufacturer’s answer is a cushion. The cord is meant to patinate, so expect a seat that ages rather than stays spotless.
Waiting is the other catch. Stated lead times run from 4 to 8 weeks at Chaplins (UK) to 12 to 16 weeks at Suite NY (US).
And the tight hand weave can leave a new chair slightly askew on delivery. According to the Carl Hansen & Son care page, that corrects itself with use.
Cost is the real limit, though. Six chairs at the $885 entry price come to $5,310 before delivery, and at $1,970 they come to $11,820.
Before committing to a full set, browse a few mid-century modern dining room ideas to see how chairs of this size sit against a table.
Few of these limits matter for one chair in a bedroom corner. All of them matter for six at a family table.
Wishbone Chair FAQ
Is the wishbone chair comfortable?
The comfort claims come from the manufacturer, not from an independent test. Carl Hansen & Son’s product copy says the gently rounded, steam-bent top rail gives freedom of movement.
A 3 cm cushion, 49 by 39 cm, is sold for the cord seat.
Can the paper cord seat be replaced?
Yes. Carl Hansen & Son says a skilled weaver can repair or replace the cord when it wears.
The care guide publishes no reweaving price, so get a quote from the weaver or the retailer first.
Are wishbone chair replicas legal?
It depends on the country, but copyright restricts copies in the UK and EU. The UK repealed section 52 of its Copyright, Designs and Patents Act on 28 July 2016, which restored protection for the designer’s life plus 70 years (UK government guidance on the repeal).
Wegner died in 2007, which puts the end of the term in 2077.
How does the wishbone chair differ from the CH20 Elbow Chair and the CH23?
The CH23 has no arms and tucks closer to a table, according to UK retailer kin.
The CH20 was designed in 1956 but only entered production in 2005, and a retailer listing says it stacks up to four high.
Is there a children’s wishbone chair?
Yes. Carl Hansen & Son launched the CH24 Children’s Wishbone Chair on 2 April 2024, Wegner’s 110th birthday, for ages 3 and up.
It stands about 51 cm high with a seat height near 30 cm, and it meets the EN 17191:2021 standard for children’s seating.
What table height suits a wishbone chair?
A table about 72 cm high works, such as the CH002 from Carl Hansen & Son. Against the 45 cm seat, that leaves 27 cm between seat and tabletop.
The arms rise to roughly 73 cm (Suite NY listing), so they stop at the tabletop edge instead of sliding under it. Other listings give about 71 cm, which would slide under a 72 cm tabletop, so check the arm height of your chair against your table.
Is a Wishbone Chair Worth the Price for Daily Use?
For a home that sits on it every day, yes, as long as the buyer orders from an authorized seller. For anything less than daily use the price is harder to defend.
The seller sets the warranty, which runs from 1 year to 5. Design Within Reach lists 1 year, Lino lists 2 years, and Carl Hansen & Son offers up to 5 years on indoor furniture.
Pick the seller and read its warranty term first. Then fix wood, finish and cord color together, buy one chair, sit on it for a while, and only after that order the rest of the set.
That one-chair test does cost you batch consistency. Innes supplies pairs from one batch so the soap finish and paper cord age together, while a later chair starts without that patina.
Prices and lead times reflect October 2026 listings, and retailers state that lead times change with availability.
Ideas for decorating the dining room show how to build the space around the finished set.
- Kitchen Color Schemes by Cabinet Color: What Pairs Well - October 19, 2026
- Curtain Colors for Every Wall Color: Safe vs Bold Picks - October 18, 2026
- Interior Design Styles: Find Your Primary and Secondary - October 14, 2026
