The Father of Modern Furniture Design
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The architect Kaare Klint has rightly been called "The Father of Danish Furniture Design". As a furniture designer and professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts' School of Furniture, he has been of crucial importance to Danish design history, and he inspired and shaped an entire generation of Denmark's most prominent architects. The special thing about Kaare Klint was that he did not want to create a revolution in the design of furniture. Instead, he turned his attention to what was already there and refined the traditions and craft in his attempt to create new and more contemporary furniture pieces adapted to the needs of modern life. A characteristic trait of his furniture is the handling of materials such as wood and leather, often combined with inspiration from previous styles or other cultures. He was fundamentally opposed to functionalism's use of new materials such as steel and simplified manufacturing processes. Some of Kaare Klint's most famous pieces of furniture include “The Faaborg Chair” from 1914, “The Red Chair” from 1927, “The Safari Chair” as well as the Addition Sofa from 1933 and the sofa with tall sidepieces from 1930, which he designed for Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning's office. He also designed fabrics and lamps for the Le Klint family business. |
