Arctander Philip

Philip Arctander is the architect and designer.Graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In 1939-47 he worked as an independent architect. Since 1947 Philip Arctander is the head of one of the departments of Danish Building Research Institute (SBI), in 1968-1981 director of the Institute. UN advisor on Social Construction and Urban Development. In 1975 he was awarded the Eckersberg Medal, the annual award of The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.

The Muslingestol chair (Сlam Chair) is one of the most recognizable and expressive model of the mid-century era, which had become the embodiment of the Scandinavian style all over the world. Organic forms inspired by northern nature resemble the open shell of a clam (the name Muslinge means clam). The combination of “warm” wood and light upholstery (wool) creates a cozy and attractive image.

A series of incorrect attributions — for a long time the chair was featured at auctions as the Dutch Mystery Chair because nothing was known about it — and the almost detective investigation carried out by Bruun Rasmussen (The Danish auction house) to establish the author’s real name — excited the already high interest to the model, turning it into a real cult subject in the world of collectible design. The chair has appeared many times in the projects of famous collectors and decorators. Сlam Chair can be seen in the interiors of the castle designed by Pierre Yovanovitch, in the apartment of the Berlin collector Emmanuel de Bayser and in the rooms of the art dealer Maggie Kane.