Introduction - English

Arising from the necessity of re-building London after the Great Fire in 1666, timber exports from South Norway to England grew enormously and the trade continued for many years. The ships` captains bringing the wood over had money and enough space in their boats to bring back to Norway all kinds of goods to sell or to put in their own homes, including English furniture.

Chippendale chairs, in considerable numbers, ended up in Norwegian homes as a result of this trade, and they became so popular that Norwegian chair-makers started to copy them, but, of necessity in home-grown birch.

The following pages tell the story, in Norwegian, of Lars Larsen Groen, a Danish-Norwegian furniture maker who made and delivered a beautiful set of “English Chairs” to the Institute of Science (Videnskapsselskapet) in Trondhjem in 1787.  

The chairs were later called Troender or Trondhjem Chippendale. All the chairs are still in the Institute as can be seen from the accompanying images.