Jørgen Kastholm

Jørgen Kastholm (1931–2007) was a Danish furniture designer, interior designer, and professor. He collaborated extensively with Preben Fabricius between 1961 and 1968.

Furniture designed by Kastholm has appeared in several films and series, including: The Girl and the Millionaire, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Rollerball, Who Am I?, The Devil Wears Prada, Old Dogs, The International, Up in the Air, The Ghost Writer, Fair Game, X Factor, and A Most Wanted Man. His furniture has now become part of permanent exhibitions at a number of museums, including: the Museum of Modern Art, Museo de Arte Moderno, Ringling Museum, Haus Industrieform, and Museum Kunstpalast.

Early life and education Kastholm was born in Roskilde and attended Kostskole until 1946, then studied abroad in the United States until 1950. Between 1953 and 1955 he completed his military service in the Royal Life Guards.

Kastholm first trained as a smith but soon turned to furniture design. He attended the School for Interior Design in Copenhagen where he studied under Finn Juhl. After graduating from the School for Interior design in 1958, he attended Den Grafiske Højskole, a graphic arts folk high school, until 1959.

Career It was while studying at the Design School that Kastholm met cabinetmaker Preben Fabricius who became his partner for a number of years. They had a common approach to furniture design, never wanting to compromise on quality. Speaking of their partnership, Kastholm commented: "We had the same basic approach, we both wanted to minimize. I had been to the United States and seen furniture by Eames and Mies van der Rohe and it inspired us. The simplest lasts longest. At school we had learnt that timelessness was an ideal." They travelled to Stuttgart with their first designs for production in Kill's factory in nearby Fellbach. Their international breakthrough came at the Cologne Fair in 1966 when they exhibited a whole series of office and home furniture leading to orders from ten large furniture concerns. Their minimalistic designs, both attractive and comfortable, were usually in steel and leather. The Tulip Chair FK 6725, the Grasshopper Chair FK 87, and the Scimitar Chair are among their most successful works. The Tulip Chair FK 6725 has become famous as Meryl Streep's office chair in the film The Devil Wears Prada. During his partnership with Fabricius, their work was exhibited at a number of notable institutions, including the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum of Modern Art, and the Ringling Museum of Art. As a result of disagreements, the pair decided to terminate their cooperation in 1968.

Awards Kastholm was the recipient of a variety of awards for his work. Among the most notable are:

Ringling Museum Award (1969) Ersten Bundespreis "Gute Form" (1969) Giid Industrial Form (1972, 1974, 1976) Stuttgart Design Center Prize (1972, 1977) Grand Prix of the Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro (1973) Red Dot (2005)