(On image – Arne Jacobsen; 1902 to 1971; An exemplary architect and designer; I have no philosophy, my favourite thing is sitting in the studio.)
Born in Copenhagen in 1902, Arne Jacobsen, dissed by his father, his hopes of becoming a painter never materialised. His father, Johan Jacobsen, was a safety pins and snap fasteners wholesale trader and, his mother, Pouline Jacobsen, who would paint floral motifs in her spare time, was a trained bank clerk. Since, Jacobsen grew up in a Victorian style home, he as a child splattered white paint over his colored wall paper.
Arne Jacobsen’s father disparaged his aspirations of becoming a painter, but encouraged him to pursue architecture. As a newcomer, Jacobsen worked as an apprentice mason. Soon after which he was admitted to Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts to study architecture from 1924 to 1927.
Still in his early twenties, Arne Jacobsen traveled to participate in the Paris Art Deco fair, Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes, where he won a silver medal for a chair design. And, that was the beginning of his travel around Europe – Jacobsen traveled to Germany where he acquainted architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius.
For the next decade, Jacobsen, set up his own office. Post which, owing to the Second World War, he had to flee his office and go into exile to Denmark to escape the Nazis’ planned deportation of Jewish Danes to concentration camps. While at Denmark, since there wasn’t much work, Jacobsen spent his time designing fabrics and wallpaper.
Today, Arne Jacobsen is primarily remembered for his iconic furniture designs. Hilariously, he hated the term ‘Designer’ and refused to call himself one. Highly inspired by Charles and Ray Eames, Jacobsen, used the concept of bent plywood in designing his furniture. For example, the Egg Chair, the Swan Chair and the Ant Chair.
Arne Jacobsen was given the opportunity to design “the world’s first designer hotel”, the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel Hotel in Denmark. And, every element was designed by him – from the building and the furniture to the ashtrays sold in the souvenir shop and the airport buses.
It is now, in 1956, that Jacobsen designed the Egg Chair for the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark. Designed using state of the art material, the Egg Chair is known for its proportions, something even Jacobsen was known for. Through its avant garde form, the Egg chair gives you the feel of a ‘room within a room’ – haven in heaven.
Before we leave, please have a look at the post below. The best reproduction of the Egg Chair in the market today. We wouldn’t recommend it if we didn’t believe in it.
