Arne Jacobsen - A Cultural Icon

Arne Jacobsen is world famous for his Danish Design

Arne Jacobsen

The architect Arne Jacobsen lived from 1902 to 1971 and lived to set his very poignant mark on Copenhagen as well as very many homes of ordinary Danes. The reason is that he not only worked as an architects building city halls (Rødovre and Søllerød), schools and ordinary houses and apartments (Bella Vista). He also created famous modernistic landmarks in Copenhagen like SAS Royal Hotel and The National Bank.

Functionalistic Design

Today he is however best known for his design of beautiful and stringent modernistic and functionalistic furniture - the Ant, the Egg and the Swan - as well as his other designs, pots, cutlery, drinking glasses etc. Although the prices have never been low, the products are still in production and everyone has therefore the opportunity to own a little bit of these famous designs. This has caused that not only Danish doctors and professors but also schoolteachers and nurses own a piece of what is generally considered icons of Danish Design. Danes live in these surroundings and expect them to be part of their daily life.

The Man

Most of his design looks and feels extraordinarily simple. The design process was however in every sense complicated and marred by a perfectionist outlook, which often hampered him in getting results. Sometimes he claimed that he "was choking on aesthetics" and people who knew him might as well find him enjoying nature, his garden and not least his saplings. The perfectionist modernist and the nature-loving, genial personality were stark contrasts showing that creating simple design is in no way a guarantee for the possibility of living a simple life.

Read more at the offical home of Danish Design 

Arne Jacobsen and McDonalds, McDonalisation of Danish design
Arne Jacobsen's summerhouse, Kubeflex