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Arne Jacobsen inscribed his name in both the history of architecture and design. His organic functionalism was far removed from the strict, geometrical idiom of international functionalism. He presented a less doctrinal and more accessible form of Modernism and launched the Danish reputation for producing timeless, elegant and functional furniture and objects for everyday use. Arne Jacobsen was a firm believer in industrial production.
In the 1950s and 1960s Arne Jacobsen introduced his soft-edged style into furniture and product design. He became world-famous with his stacking Ant-chair (1952), made of bent laminated wood. It was the first chair with seat and back in one piece and was the first example in Denmark of an industrially manufactured chair. His Series 7- chair (1955) is probably his most famous chair. More than seven millions of the series have been produced till today by the manufacturer Fritz Hansen.
Jacobsen’s furniture and product design were also created for special projects such as the Royal Hotel or SAS hotel in Copenhagen (1956-61). A great amount of furniture, such as the Swan chair and the Egg chair, lamps, textiles, cutlery and tableware were produced within the context of this specific project and were later put into serial production.
From the organic curve that characterized his work in the 1950s, he turned more towards the basic geometrical forms during the 1960s.
The Cylinda Line tableware range , based on cylindrical elements in varying heights and diameters, was launched in 1967 by the Stelton company. It received the Danish ID Prize in the same year for its concise form, excellent finish and well planned programme. Initially, it included 17 different products but until his death in 1971, Arne Jacobsen continued to design new products for the series. It took three years to create the Cylinda Line due to technical problems with the unmanageable stainless steel.
As part of the celebrations marking Stelton’s 50th anniversary in 2010, the British fashion designer Paul Smith has taken a fresh look at the Danish design icon Cylinda Line by creating 2 series in a limited edition. Showing deep respect for the ingenious design principles of the original products, Paul Smith has concentrated his colourful imagination on Cylinda Line handles, lending a modern, optimistic look to Jacobsen’s classics (Add Colour Series) and has also transformed Jacobsen’s bar series into a gorgeous fantasy in black (Statement).
