The Best of Designer Arne Jacobsen on the Marketplace

One of the downfalls of an ambitious designer can be overthinking; your head is swimming with all of these concepts and forms and colors, and far too often function takes a backseat to frills. How many times have you seen some cutting-edge modern design unveiling and thought, “is….is that a chair? Where do your legs go? And why so many edges?!” But for every over-thinker there is a functionalist, and no one has mastered the art of simple and effective form more than Arne Jacobsen.

Despite not graduating from the academy for another two years, in 1925 Jacobsen won a silver medal for chair design at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. This was only the beginning of an influential career that covered all areas of design: projects like the Royal Hotel Copenhagen and St. Catherine’s College involved custom pieces ranging from furniture and textiles to cutlery and lighting.

Influences like Charles and Ray Eames largely contributed to Jacobsen’s passion for clean and efficient modernist design that worked with modern spaces. Iconic pieces like the Egg and Swan Chairs can still be spotted in trendy homes today, most likely because they manage to seamlessly blend function with comfort and style. You won’t find any sharp edges here: all of Jacobsen’s pieces feature smooth, flowing lines and organic-looking forms.