Jens Risom

Jens Risom ( ; 8 May 1916 – 9 December 2016) was a Danish American furniture designer. An exemplar of Mid-Century modern design, Risom was one of the first designers to introduce Scandinavian design in the United States.

Biography Risom was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 8 May 1916. His father was a prominent architect, Sven Risom, a member of the school of Nordic Classicism. Risom was trained as a designer at the Copenhagen School of Industrial Arts and Design (Kunsthåndværkerskolen), where he studied under Ole Wanscher and Kaare Klint. He was classmates with Hans Wegner and Børge Mogensen.

Risom spent two years at Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College, before beginning work as a furniture developer and interior designer with the architectural firm of Ernst Kuhn. He later relocated to Stockholm, taking a job with a small architectural firm. From there he joined the design department of Nordiska Kompaniet where he was introduced to Alvar Aalto and Bruno Mathsson.

In 1939, Risom traveled to New York City to study American design. He found it difficult to find work as a furniture designer in New York, however, and was forced to accept a number of textile designs that ultimately secured him freelance work with designer Dan Cooper. This led to his work being included in the Collier's "House of Ideas" designed by Edward Durell Stone and constructed in front of Rockefeller Center during the 1939 New York World's Fair. These works included stools, armchairs and lounges, made from cedar and surplus webbing—works which have since become design classics.

With the advent of World War II, Risom was drafted into the United States Army in 1943 and served under General George S. Patton. and then relocated from New York to New Canaan, Connecticut and launched a consulting service, Design Control.

Honors

Many of Risom's furniture designs are considered modern classics, and his furniture is on display at the Museum of Modern Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and the Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum. In 1996, Risom was presented with the Danish Knight's Cross by Margrethe II of Denmark.

Risom's revival in the United States was spearheaded by furniture company RALPH PUCCI which has been consistently working and showing Jens' work since 2001.