Arne Jacobsen Biography
Arne Jacobsen, born on Feb. 11, 1902, Copenhagen and died on March 24, 1971, Copenhagen was a Danish architect and designer of many important buildings in an austere modern style; he is known internationally for his industrial design, particularly for his three-legged stacking chair (1952) and his “egg” chair (1959), the back and seat of which were formed of cloth-covered plastic.
Jacobsen received his diploma in 1928 from the Copenhagen Academy of Arts. His first buildings date from 1930, but his first major work was the Bellavista Housing Estate (1933) at Klampenborg, near Copenhagen, where each house offers a view of the sea.
Important Jacobsen works during the 1950s include a group of houses at Søholm (1950–55), the Jesperson Building (1955) in Copenhagen, Rødovre Town Hall (1954–56), and the SAS Building (1959), Copenhagen’s first skyscraper, for which he did the interior design as well as the architecture.
Like many of Jacobsen’s buildings, those designed for St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University (1964), recall his theory that “economy plus function equals style.” The starkly modern bell tower consists mainly of two tall planes. For St. Catherine’s he also designed furnishings such as silverware and china, chairs, lamps, and door handles.
Arne Jacobsen Vægur
Arne Jacobsen’s world famous watch design has now become available to all. Regardless of whether you choose “Bankers”, “City Hall”, “Roman” or “Station”, you have an original product that can hardly be distinguished from the clock that Arne Jacobsen made in his time – just near the patina! The simple and elegant watches are available in different slices and colors, and are available both with a delicious calf leather leather strap and mesh strap.
Arne Jacobsen Stol
The Model 3107 chair is a chair designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1955 that uses a technique invented by Charles and Ray Eames through which plywood can be bent in three dimensions. Over 5 million units have been produced exclusively by Fritz Hansen. It is one of the most-copied chairs in the world.
The chair, along with the Jacobsen’s Ant chair, was, according to Jacobsen, inspired by a chair made by the husband and wife design team of Charles and Ray Eames.
The chair is available with a number of different undercarriages — as a regular four-legged chair, an office chair with five wheels and as a bar stool. It comes with armrests, a writing-table attached, and different forms of upholstering. To some extent, these additions mar the simple aesthetics of the chair, while contributing practical elements.
The chair is widely believed to have been used in Lewis Morley’s iconic photograph of Christine Keeler; however, the chair used in this photograph was an imitation and not the original Jacobsen model. After the publishing of the pictures sales of the chair rose dramatically. Numerous images in print media have been made with a celebrity mimicking the pose, notably David Frost and a pop single cover of the Spice Girls.
Arne Jacobsen Lampe
The AJ table lamp was designed, among other lighting fixtures, for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. The AJ table lamp is on the same principles as the AJ floor, but due to the useability as a working desk lamp the shade has been expanded. The base of the table lamp was originally intended to accommodate an ashtray but now contributes solely to the design.
Arne Jacobsen Lamp
Arne Jacobsen Stuhl
Arne Jacobsen developed the series 7 chair made of molded plywood in 1955 for the manufacturer Fritz Hansen, thus creating his best-selling object – and at the same time a classic in modern furniture history with unlimited potential applications. The Jacobsen classic is available with various bases as a bar and swivel chair and as a series 7 children’s chair. For the 60th birthday of the series 7, artist Tal R has created wonderful new colors for the chair. Each one tells its own, special story.
Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair
The Egg is a chair designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1958 for the Radisson SAS hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is manufactured by Republic of Fritz Hansen. The Egg was designed in a typical Jacobsen style, using state-of-the-art material. It is believed to be inspired by Eero Saarinen’s “Womb chair”, from which it borrows some traits.
Related to the Egg is the Swan chair and, to some degree, many of Jacobsen’s plywood chairs such as “7”, the Ant, the Cigar, the Grand Prix-chair, the Pot, the Drop and the Giraffe..
The Egg (like the Swan) was also designed as a couch. While the Swan couch is still in production, only a handful of Egg couches have ever been made. A few were made for the Radisson Hotel, and a few years back[when?], some were made as a “special edition” couch. The price was quite high—about 400 000 DKK, the equivalent of roughly 75 000 USD.
The reason for the limited production of the Egg couch, besides the wish for exclusivity, is the difficulty involved in making it, plus a design flaw: the couch is too big to be covered by two entire cow-hides, which is only just possible with the Egg-chair. This leaves a very visible stitching down the middle of the couch. This problem can, however, be solved by making the upholstery in fabric rather than leather.
Arne Jacobsen Egg Chair
According to a New York Times article, the Egg chair has also been used by McDonald’s as part of a high-concept redesign of one of its restaurants in London. Furthermore, The Egg is in a McDonald’s restaurant in Nørrebrogade, Copenhagen, among other furniture by Arne Jacobsen, although some are imitations.
It was used as the diary room chair in the first UK series of “Big Brother”. The newly renovated Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport features the Egg in its boarding area.
Now there are hundreds of different types of egg chairs and hanging egg chairs inspired by Arne Jacobsen’s design.
Hanging Egg Chair
The Hanging Egg Chair was designed by Danish furniture designers Nanna Ditzel and her husband Jørgen Ditzel in 1957 in Denmark and launched in 1959 in cooperation with the wicker company R. Wengler in Copenhagen. Since 2012 it is distributed by Sika Design. The egg-shaped basket seat is made of woven natural rattan and suspended by a metal chain from above. Nanna Ditzel incorporated the minimalist visual elements that characterized the Scandinavian design in the 1950s and combined it with the natural look of rattan. The chair illustrates the soft and feminine approach the two Danish designers are widely recognized for.
Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel received the Lunning Prize in 1956 and worked together until Jørgen Ditzel’s death in 1961.
Arne Jacobsen Photos
Arne Jacobsen