12.1.11 | New York, NY | Carl Hansen & Son will take over renowned cabinet maker Rud. Rasmussen on 1 December and anticipates significant synergy effects from bringing together two of Denmark's longest-established furniture businesses while retaining the Rud. Rasmussen brand.

Danish furniture manufacturer Carl Hansen & Son A/S will take over the renowned and long-established cabinet maker Rud. Rasmussen A/S on 1 December. With this acquisition, Carl Hansen & Son can now muster the cream of Danish cabinetmaking and so reach a larger target group with a wider range of high-quality designs. Besides Hans J. Wegner’s design classics, Carl Hansen & Son’s international sales organisation will now be able to take Danish design icons such as Kaare Klint and Mogens Koch to a broader public.

“Our two businesses have clear common ground, building on sound craftsmanship and timeless design, and we can reap significant synergy effects by combining our international sales organisation and the potential inherent in Rud. Rasmussen’s product range,” says Knud Erik Hansen, CEO of Carl Hansen & Son. “Mogens Koch and Kaare Klint’s designs dovetail perfectly with our existing range, and it will be very exciting to bring them to a wider public.”

“The two businesses are a good match, both being firmly rooted in the Danish furniture-making tradition, and our combined range is like a history of Danish furniture design,” says Jørgen Rud. Rasmussen, CEO of Rud. Rasmussen since 1979. “I’m delighted to see Rud. Rasmussen’s designs join the Carl Hansen & Son fold, as it is a business that is in so many ways like ours.”

Jørgen Rud. Rasmussen and his wife Elisabeth la Cour will be retiring from the furniture trade, while a fifth generation of the family, daughter Malene la Cour Rasmussen, will continue as sales manager at the showroom and store on Nørrebrogade 45 in Copenhagen. Classics such as Kaare Klint’s Safari Chair, Faaborg Chair and Addition Sofa and Mogens Koch’s Folding Chair and Composite Bookcase System will continue to be produced alongside Hans J. Wegner’s design classics such as the world-famous Wishbone Chair and Shell Chair.

Carl Hansen & Son’s product range is sold worldwide through subsidiaries in Canada, Japan and China, representatives in the US, the UK, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Hong Kong, and a global network of agents. The business currently employs more than 100 people in Denmark and at the international sales offices. New showrooms have recently been opened in New York and Copenhagen.

The showroom and the production of Mogens Koch and Kaare Klint’s designs will continue under the Rud. Rasmussen brand at Nørrebrogade 45 in Copenhagen, where the business has been based for more than 136 years.