Hans J. Wegner is one of the leading representatives of traditional Danish furniture design. Wegner's work draws on his comprehensive training as a carpenter and is rooted in a family tradition of craftsmen. He had already learned how to handle tools and three-dimensional forms as a child in his father's shoemaking workshop, and his studies in Copenhagen acquainted him with masters of the Danish art of furniture-making. Wegner took woodworking ideas from around the world and made them specifically Danish.

The models for his Y-Chair come from China. The Y-shape backrest resembles the natural forking of a branch. The woven seat is reminiscent of the tall grass along the shallow shores of the Danish landscape, and follows the northwest European tradition of utilitarian chairs.