Arne Jacobsen
A. Jakobsen (1918-1978)
Lines are like the pages of a book, I like to entwine them, and imagine that I am writing a novel. As a student, in 1925 the renowned Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen won a silver medal for a chair he designed at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, where he was also awe-struck by Le Corbusier’s Esprit Nouveau pavilion. Jacobsen was one of the first who introduced the principles of Modernism to Danish design, beginning from the concept of “total design”: according to him, no detail was too stereotypical. From his early works, what emerges is the influence of Le Corbusier, Asplund and Mies van der Rohe. However, his success as a designer came with his curved and elastic chairs, created in the 1950s and largely influenced by the artistic union with Eames-Saarinen during the 1940s. The Royal Hotel in Copenaghen is perhaps his most famous work: completed in 1960, it was one of the world’s first design hotels, a true icon in its genre. Jacobsen personally attended to every minute detail, from the design of the facade to its interiors: furnishings, fabrics, chairs, lightings and ashtrays, tableware and cutlery.
Lines are like the pages of a book, I like to entwine them, and imagine that I am writing a novel. As a student, in 1925 the renowned Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen won a silver medal for a chair he designed at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, where he was also awe-struck by Le Corbusier’s Esprit Nouveau pavilion. Jacobsen was one of the first who introduced the principles of Modernism to Danish design, beginning from the concept of “total design”: according to him, no detail was too stereotypical. From his early works, what emerges is the influence of Le Corbusier, Asplund and Mies van der Rohe. However, his success as a designer came with his curved and elastic chairs, created in the 1950s and largely influenced by the artistic union with Eames-Saarinen during the 1940s. The Royal Hotel in Copenaghen is perhaps his most famous work: completed in 1960, it was one of the world’s first design hotels, a true icon in its genre. Jacobsen personally attended to every minute detail, from the design of the facade to its interiors: furnishings, fabrics, chairs, lightings and ashtrays, tableware and cutlery.
