#48 • Danish modern floating seat chairs by Jens Risom

Part of Midcentury Modern Estate, Ashford CT (timed auction by Adams Auctioneers & Appraisers)

High bid $810.00

Status: Sold

Jens Risom Designer Danish Chair Mid Century Modern Floating Seat 1950’s .  Item Description: Sculptural Beauty by prominent Danish Designer, Jens Risom. 1950's. Classic “floating” seat design, unique upward curve on outer edge of arms. Rich Walnut frame with a gentle patina with original olive green fabric. Excellent vintage condition – looks incredible even from the back. Seat is sturdy and comfortable, original Jens Risom Design Inc furniture tag is intact (above right). It looks great from every angle.Possibly original fabric. There is slight age related wear and staining on the fabric. Teak frame does have a few dings in the wood Seat height 18" Total height 33" Total width 24" Total depth 23" Weight 24 pounds Information about the designer:  Jens Risom (Danish American, b. 1916) The Danish-born Jens Risom brought the Scandinavian Design sensibility to a wide audience in the United States. As the first designer for Knoll Inc., Risom introduced American buyers to the region’s enduring design values of simplicity, grace and craftsmanship. Risom trained in furniture making at the Copenhagen School of Industrial Arts and Design under Ole Wanscher, alongside classmates Hans Wegner and Borge Mogensen. In 1939, a year after graduating from business school, Risom decided to try his hand in America. While working for an interior designer in New York in 1941, he met Hans Knoll, and the businessman and the designer hit it off. They brought out their first line the next year, despite wartime materials restrictions. The signature piece — now a design icon — was a lounge chair with a striking, undulant birch frame and a seat made of webbed sub-military grade parachute straps. Risom was drafted into the army, and served as a translator under General George Patton. When he returned from the war, Risom clashed over furniture design ideals with his business partner’s new bride, Florence Knoll, who was schooled in the Bauhaus method, which favored furniture with strict, geometric metal frames. Risom then started his own company, Jens Risom Design. In the course of his long career, Risom has developed a stylistic vocabulary that is a reflection of the life of the man himself: his furniture has Danish warmth coupled with an American air of crisp efficiency. A Risom chair is almost instantly recognizable — the arms and seat backs are set at a distinctive angle that seems to invite people to sit back and relax, yet they know they can hop up in an instant, ready to go. As you will see from these pages, Jens Risom is one of the great men of American modern design, who made furniture that is unique and timeless. In the early 1950s he teamed up with fashion photographer Richard Avedon on a series of advertisements with the tag line, “The Answer is Risom!” “We wanted to hire someone who had never photographed furniture,” Risom said in later years conversation. Avedon said, “I want no interference.” The ads were seductive, featuring only a piece of Risom’s furniture and one or two people in a sensuous pose. Avedon came up with the tag line, and the marketing department at Saks Fifth Avenue created the type font for the ads’ text. The campaign proved so successful that Risom was soon in need of a larger production space and more workers. In March 1966, Connecticut Governor John Dempsey addressed the national sales meeting of Jens Risom Design, Inc., at its plant in North Grosvenordale, a village of Thompson, Connecticut. He praised Risom and his management team for the vital role they had played in transforming the economy of Northeastern Connecticut, and North Grosvenordale in particular, saying, “We worked hard to fill the textile mills when they closed down, and the Risom Manufacturing Company is an outstanding example of the success of our efforts.” Ten years earlier, the tiny village had been delivered a stunning blow when its only major employer, Cluett-Peabody, abruptly closed its textile mill, began liquidating its assets and left more than a thousand people jobless. Thus, the implosion of the local economy in North Grosvenordale, almost simultaneous with the burgeoning popularity of Risom-designed furniture, created a fortuitous opportunity for all concerned. In 1955, the Connecticut Development Commission, in its mission to bring new industry to Connecticut, approached Risom in New York. “It was ideal,” says Risom, referring to the practically turn-key operation with all the space he wanted at 42¢ per square foot and an available local work force. He set up an on-the-job paid apprenticeship and an after-work program to retrain the former textile workers in woodworking and cabinet making. According to Risom, only 2% of his employees had high-school diplomas, so he also set up a program geared toward helping employees earn their GEDs. The arrival of Jens Risom Design, Inc. was also credited with attracting other industry to North Grosvenordale. The Deran Confectionary Company and Bates Footwear also set up shop in the mill. After selling his business to the Dictaphone Corporation in 1970, Risom started a consulting service, Design Control, in New Canaan, where he lived until 2018, where he passed at 100 years old.