Jens Risom (1916 – 2016) Danish American Furniture Designer.
Education
He studied at Krebs’ School to 1928, St. Anne Vester School to 1932, and Niels Brock’s Business School, University of Copenhagen, to 1934. Between 1935—38, he studied furniture and interior design at Kunstandvaerkerskolen, Copenhagen.
Biography
Between 1937 and 39, he was active as a furniture and interior designer in the office of architect Ernst Kuhn in Copenhagen. In 1939, he settled in the USA. From 1939 to 41, he was design director at Dan Cooper, New York, where he designed furniture, textiles, and interiors. He designed the interiors of the 1940 model home by architect Edward Stone, sponsored by Colliers magazine in Rockefeller Center, New York.
Furniture Designer
In 1941, he designed Hans Knoll’s first chair. From 1941 to 43, he was a freelance designer of furniture, textiles, interiors, and industrial products with clients including Georg Jensen. His designs for Knoll immediately after World War II reflected the scarcity of raw materials; inexpensive and second-grade woods and upholstery webbing had to be used. From 1946 to 73, his firm in New York was known as Jens Risom Design, where he was the sole designer.
From 1973, he was active as chief executive of Design Control in New Canaan, Connecticut, and from 1970—76, he was a trustee of the Rhode Island School of Design. Unlike other designers at Knoll and Herman Miller after World War II, Risom rejected metal and moulded furniture in favour of shaped wood.
Sources
Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The Design Encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3ElmSlL
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