Furniture You Feel: Dana Meets the CEO Who Understands that Great Design Moves Hearts Before Markets.

The rain drums on the roof of Cult’s Chippendale showroom, creating the soundtrack for what Dario Reicherl and I are about to discuss—longevity, permanence, things that endure. We’re here to talk about the Series 7 turning 70, but really, we’re just two friends catching up—me and the Singapore-based Italian who leads a Danish design icon, Fritz Hansen, across Asia. Our bond was sparked exactly ten years ago on a bus to an event during Series 7’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Now, as our discussion ping-pongs between profound design philosophy and absolute nonsense, I reflect on how great conversations don’t need to be perfect. They just need to be genuine.

Our terrible Danish pronunciation and Dario’s struggle with some English words set the tone. “Irridiscente,” he attempts. “Iridescent,” I correct. “Sheeeeeet,” he exaggerates when pronouncing a sheet (of ply). “My Italian accent makes that word dangerous.” We both laugh. Oh, this is going to be fun! (You can watch a little snippet of the LOLs here.)

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PK22 Lounge Chair Designed by Poul Kjærholm, 1956.

The Egg is one of the triumphs of Arne Jacobsen’s total design, a sculptural contrast to the SAS Royal Hotel Copenhagen building’s almost exclusively vertical and horizontal surfaces, which he designed in the late 1950s.

Fritz Hansen’s Headquarters at Allerød. I loved my visit this April (see more here).

Dario’s path to furniture was anything but linear. “It was 2001, right after September 11, when I moved out of the aviation industry because of that traumatic event in NYC,” he shares, recounting his shift to design. But even before that, there was music. As a DJ, he understood something fundamental about human emotion: “You can influence people with a song. Everybody goes crazy and starts dancing.” This understanding would prove crucial to his future role.

His fascination with Fritz Hansen began with Arne Jacobsen—not just as a designer, but as a visionary who created entire universes. “He designed the SAS Royal Hotel building, the chairs, the font for the logo, the uniforms, even chose the flowers and cutlery,” Dario explains, his eyes lighting up. This wasn’t just design, but world-building before the term existed.

“I promised myself one day I will try to work in Fritz Hansen,” he tells me. Thirteen years later, in 2014, he got his chance. Now, as CEO of Asia Pacific, he describes it as “the best job in the world.”

Series 7’s story begins in 1955, in Copenhagen, still rebuilding from the war. Unlike Jacobsen’s other icons—each born from prestigious commissions—this chair emerged from everyday necessity. “It’s one of the very rare pieces he designed that wasn’t for a project,” Dario notes. Picture small apartments and kitchens needing seating for four but space for none. “The idea was you have maybe four chairs—parents and two kids—and then you have another four chairs stacked for Friday night with friends,” Dario portrays post-war Danish life that feels surprisingly contemporary.

What’s remarkable is how little has changed in seven decades. The same presses from 1955 still operate at Fritz Hansen. The hand-matching of veneers continues exactly as before. “If I look at a black and white picture of our production then and now, only the worker’s clothes have changed,” Dario observes. Even the glue recipe remains a closely guarded secret. “It’s like Coca-Cola,” he laughs.

The latest chapter in this 70-year story began with a jet-lagged moment at precisely 7:14 AM, when Dario captured Copenhagen’s autumn sky through his phone. That spontaneous photograph would later inspire Fritz Hansen’s 70th anniversary edition. “Let’s work with nature. Let’s make nature the designer for this chair. And it’s the first time we do this.”

Five new colours emerge from that dawn moment—Blue, Violet, Pink, Beige, and Green—each capturing the Copenhagen sky at daybreak. The iridescent chrome base shifts like morning light itself. “The sky keeps changing every second and this actually changes based on how your eyes or your head is moving.”

Affectionately called “the Sevener” in Denmark,  Arne Jacobsen’s Series 7 chair reaches its 70th anniversary this year, with Fritz Hansen’s thoughtful tribute.

Fritz Hansen Celebrates 70 Years of Series 7 Chair with Dawn-Inspired 7:14 AM Palette.

The 7:14 AM edition palette translates the magic of Scandinavian sunrise into five sophisticated hues paired with a new iridescent base.

Series 7 in Production in the 50s and 60s.

Series 7 Chair at the magnificent Glyptoteket in Copenhagen.

“I want to be like Fritz Hansen as a person with the same philosophy. Not to give up when things aren’t going well. When something happens to me personally, I remember Fritz Hansen’s history—things have cycles.”

— Dario Reicherl

But it’s when we discuss sustainability that Dario truly comes alive. This isn’t corporate greenwashing—it’s philosophy made tangible. “The best way to be responsible is avoiding creating trash,” he leans forward, passionate. “So you buy a chair that will last 30, 50, 70, 100 years. It’s much better than five.” But what if someone can’t afford a new Series 7? “Buy second-hand, it’s fantastic,” he says, subverting CEO expectations. When your product philosophy is “worth keeping forever,” second-hand isn’t competition—it’s validation.

He tells me about their recent Care & Repair café in Seoul’s Hannam-dong. Three thousand people came to learn or brought their chairs for free a restoration over 15 days. “Very chaotic, very fun,” he grins. They taught owners how to clean fabric, leather, veneer, how to replace feet—empowering them to extend their chairs’ lives indefinitely. They even stock spare parts from the 1960s. “If you want a colour touch up from Verner Panton, we still have the colour.”

This philosophy of longevity over disposal has shaped everything Dario has built in Asia.

As our conversation continues to loop back to the Series 7 chair, Dario shares something that stops me in my tracks. “Big respect for all the people and colleagues for the past 70 years,” Dario says, his hands gesturing. We’re talking about the Series 7’s lean decades now—the 70s and 80s when Memphis was everything, primary colours ruled, modernism felt as outdated as your parents’ music, and Fritz Hansen bled money keeping the veneer presses running.

Nearly 8 million chairs later, it’s easy to forget this wasn’t always a success story. “They didn’t discontinue it. They kept it sometimes at a loss. They kept producing—kept it alive and kept believing.” Dario’s voice carries the weight of someone who understands what belief costs. Having pivoted from aviation after the 9/11 trauma, he knows about navigating dark rooms until you find the light switch.

“I want to be like Fritz Hansen as a person with the same philosophy. Not to give up when things aren’t going well. When something happens to me personally, I remember Fritz Hansen’s history—things have cycles.”

Earlier this year, Fritz Hansen held a “Renew Care & Repair” pop-up event in Seoul, where they offered professional repair services for original Series 7™ chairs by Arne Jacobsen.

“Renew Care & Repair” pop-up emphasised the company’s commitment to sustainability and preserving the lifespan of their iconic designs.

Els Van Hoorebeeck (left), Creative Director at Fritz Hansen, and Dario Reicherl at the “Renew Care & Repair” pop-up in Seoul.

This cyclical understanding—DJ instincts applied to design leadership—has transformed Fritz Hansen Asia from a niche player to a cultural force. Over five years, Dario has grown the Korean business eightfold through immersive House of Fritz Hansen showrooms, exhibitions visited by tens of thousands of people, Care & Repair cafés where 3,000 people came to learn about restoration, and multiple collaborations with local craftspeople. These aren’t sales tactics, but emotional experiences, carefully mixed and perfectly timed. It’s world-building, Jacobsen-style, for a new generation.

The Series 7 endures because someone, seventy years ago, believed it should. Others believed through the lean times. And now, someone who once moved crowds with music ensures it moves hearts with meaning. Fritz Hansen isn’t a furniture company under Dario’s watch; it’s a feeling you can sit on, a memory you can stack, a belief you can pass to your children.

“My role at Fritz Hansen is an honour. I’m holding the torch,” he reflects. “One day I’ll pass this torch to someone else.” But what he’s really passing on isn’t just a business—it’s the understanding that the best things are worth playing even when the room is empty, knowing that eventually, inevitably, people will return to what’s real.

No fluff, just pure emotion. Exactly how Dario—and enduring design—rolls.

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Dario continues to DJ at various Fritz Hansen parties globally, and let me tell you—from what I’ve heard in Copenhagen at 3 Days of Design this June, he’s not half bad! Shall we organise a Fritz party here in Sydney? Let me know if you’re keen, and I’ll make it happen ;-)

[Images courtesy of Fritz Hansen.]