Fritz Hansen Oxford Classic Armchair

The original version of the Oxford™ chair was designed for the professors at St. Catherine’s College in Oxford, in 1963.

When the Dean of St. Catherine’s College chose Arne Jacobsen to build the college, he was also commissioned to design the surrounding landscape and a furniture series for the college.

The chair’s extra tall back served as a symbol of prestige and created a space of its own. The “professor’s chair” later evolved into the Oxford series.

In spite of initial protests and uproar over the commission of a foreign modernist, Arne Jacobsen received an honorary doctorate from Oxford, upon completion of the project.

This groundbreaking example of total design is, today, considered Arne Jacobsen’s most outstanding work. When the Oxford chair was introduced in 1965, it came with both toes and wheels.