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Price category: 500 - 1,000 usd / eur

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Jens H. Quistgaard set out to design beautiful things for everyday use, which is an essentially Scandinavian approach to design in general. Over the course of his prolific and varied design career, Jens Quistgaard created objects that are a meditation on the possibilities of shape for a common household object.

Intriguing and fantastical, the variety of forms the sculptor manifested expand the vocabulary of functional design, calling on an array of familiar references including natural shapes. This solid wood bowl is a beautiful example of this, with an organic shape and an immediately visible level of craftsmanship. This rare model is an early iteration of the teak Viking ship serving bowl with a stunningly sculpted, staved body. In this technique, after spreading a wood bonding glue onto the sides of the individual staves, the bowl is assembled by sticking the sides together. This results in an interesting look that showcases the many different colours and patterns of the wood. The majority of Jens Quistgaard’s designs were produced in teak, which has the advantage of strength, resilience, and longevity besides its aesthetic appeal. The bowl’s elongated sides and edges are all rounded gently in a true Danish manner, softening the straight lines of the staves. While intended for everyday use, this bowl is just as much a sculpture as a utilitarian object, worthy of a role as a centrepiece or decorative object. It is marked “Saved Teak Danmark JHQ” on its bottom.

For many years Jens Quistgaard was the leading, and often, the only designer for Dansk International Designs which gradually became a world-wide firm with a production influenced in all fields by the homogeneity of his style. His works now appear so obvious it is easy to forget how original and individual they were in their time. He won the Lunning Prize in 1954, and received the Neiman Marcus Award in 1958.

Condition:

In good vintage condition. Wear consistent with age and use. Small scratches on the wood.

Dimensions:

18.3 in W x 12.99 in D x 9.05 in H

46.5 cm W x 33 cm D x 23 cm H

About the designer:

Jens Harald Quistgaard (April 23, 1919 - January 4, 2008) was the principal designer for Dansk Designs from the mid-1950s through the 1980s. Quistgaard’s designs are largely responsible for introducing and defining the Scandinavian modern aesthetic for American homes. As the New York Times recognized in 1958, “Some of the most popular accessories found in American homes today have their beginnings in a small studio-workshop adjoining the modest residence of Jens Quistgaard in Copenhagen.” Quistgaard, by way of Dansk Designs, went on to transform and modernize the American dining table and kitchen.

Initially trained as a sculptor by his father, Quistgaard expanded his skills by learning from carpenters and metalsmiths, all contributing to his versatility as a master craftsman with the expertise to combine materials and techniques in novel ways. Amongst his most recognized designs is the 1953 Fjord Flatware set, iconic for combining stainless steel with teak handles. Fjord Flatware is in the collections of several prominent museums and is still in production. Many more of Quistgaard’s houseware designs, notably the teak ice buckets and colourful Kobenstyle enamelware, have become familiar classics. Over the course of his multi-decade career, Quistgaard created designs for over four thousand products.

Despite living and working in Denmark for the majority of his career, Quistgaard’s designs for Dansk focused on the consumer market in the United States. For many decades, Quistgaard remained relatively unrecognized in his home country, rarely mentioned alongside other Danish design icons such as Hans Wegner and Finn Juhl. As many Scandinavian Modern items moved from the primary consumer market to the province of collectors, Quistgaard’s oeuvre gained further international recognition. In 2015, the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art in Copenhagen mounted a career-spanning retrospective of Quistgaard’s work, with additional Danish publications expected in the near future.