The architect and designer Finn Juhl enjoyed a long association with the cabinet-maker Neils Vodder. This chair dates from the last year of the Second World War, at the beginning of their collaboration. Shown first at the annual Copenhagen Cabinet Makers' Association exhibition in 1945, the chair won acclaim from the critics for the way in which Juhl had analysed the functional requirements. But more than this, the chair was "beautifully modelled, organic like a bone, well suited to provide support for the muscles of the arm and to carry the weight of the body. Its form and texture calls to mind the beautiful African weapons polished with use." Juhl and Vodder adapted the armchair form to become two- and three-seater sofas, and the FJ 45 armchair remains one of the most influential and highly regarded mid-twentieth-century chairs.