Article: Jens Risom - Scandanavian Modern design

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 8:36 am

Talking to the Man Who Introduced Danish Modern Design to America

David

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Thu May 12, 2016 2:25 pm

Meet and seat: Mid-Century Modern Master Jens Risom has reason to pull up a chair

David

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Thu May 12, 2016 4:02 pm

"the" picture:

http://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/galleries ... _risom.jpg

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu May 12, 2016 6:46 pm

"Bougie", a pejorative slang term derived from bourgeoisie and referring to upper middle class persons or things. Most online references seem to be French ones.

Bougie loft, describing Risom's current apartment.

The little side table with white circular top and two wire legs with crescent base reminds me of Eileen Gray's well-known nickel-plate adjustable table -- and also of a rusted rebar (?) table seen yesterday, somewhere, in a detail photo taken at T West if I'm not mistaken. One couldn't see the top clearly . . .

SDR

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 9:02 am

Jens Risom, the man who helped introduce Scandinavian design to America, dies

David

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 11:32 pm

My favorite Risom design, possibly because it might be the most Wrightian:

https://www.1stdibs.com/furniture/table ... wAodIy8F_A

Not to overlook the perfection of the 654 chair for Vostra (later Hans Knoll):

http://www.retrostart.com/item/22676/vo ... ter-knoll/

http://www.designaddict.com/forum/Gener ... Vostra-654

DRN · Post by **DRN** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 8:54 am

A long and productive life.

An article from last May.
http://architizer.com/blog/jens-risom-turns-100/

Roderick Grant · Post by **Roderick Grant** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 1:03 pm

I can't help it. Every time I see that lounge chair, I think of women in snoods and wedgies with ankle straps. Lynn Bari comes to mind.

DavidC · Post by **DavidC** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 2:45 pm

Lynn Bari - wikipedia

Lynn Bari - images

David

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 7:18 pm

It is a s e x y thing design, isn't it? (I typically despise descriptions like that, but in this case, there might be some truth to it...)
I owned one of these a few years ago. It is an extremely comfortable and functional chair. I shouldn't have sold it!

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 11:52 pm

Risom is more of a curiosity than a master, for me. The webbed chairs of Aalto or Rapson are clearly superior to the one shown here, for instance. Risom is an also-ran in Twentieth Century design, though we wouldn't mention him at all if he didn't have his moments, of course . . .

SDR

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 1:44 am

But credit where credit is due. Rapson's rocker is basically the Risom Vostra with rocker legs. The "body" is nearly identical, and Risom came up with it four years earlier.

Jens Risom 654 chair from 1941:
http://www.retrostart.com/item/22676/vo ... ter-knoll/

Ralph Rapson rocker from 1945:
http://www.artnet.com/artists/ralph-rap ... d90A--9bw2

Aalto in Finland, and Bruno Matthson in Sweden started all this in the thirties:

Matthson's masterful Eva chair from 1933:
http://donshoemaker.com/building-up-an- ... sson-eva1/

Aalto's innovation was his trademark laminated wood and cantilevers (elegantly solving the problem of how to make wood behave like the steel in Marcel Breuer's Bauhaus designs). Aalto's chaise from 1936:
http://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/484152

jmcnally · Post by **jmcnally** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 7:32 am

DRN wrote:"the" picture:

http://cdn.wallpaper.com/main/galleries ... _risom.jpg

What an incredible group of talent. While Michigan is not well known for modern furniture, the Michigan connection is strong for three of the six gentlemen pictured.

SDR · Post by **SDR** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 9:01 am

So -- Risom didn't originate the form; Mathsson and/or Aalto did ? Just sayin' . . .

I had forgotten that wartime parachute strapping played a part. The Europeans presumably made do with some other source ?

SDR

peterm · Post by **peterm** » Thu Dec 15, 2016 9:24 am

Risom's contribution to the development of Scandinavian and American design is clear and important. Rapson wouldn't have done that rocker. And because Risom worked with Knoll, his designs reached a larger international market than even Aalto did with Artek. And though I consider Aalto to be a god, the Risom chair is light years more comfortable than any chair designed by the great Finn...

Also... I didn't even mention the earliest examples of Saarinen's Grasshopper chair! Notice the form of the sides and compare to Risom's earlier Vostra:
http://pin.it/sWvQCAU

Vostra:
http://www.retrostart.com/item/22676/vo ... ter-knoll/