Mid Century Modern Armchairs 'Oval-Back' by Jens Risom
View Similar Items
Mid Century Modern Armchairs 'Oval-Back' by Jens Risom
About the Item
- Creator:Jens Risom (Designer)
- Similar to:Knoll (Maker)Finn Juhl (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 34.5 in (87.63 cm)Width: 26.5 in (67.31 cm)Depth: 22 in (55.88 cm)Seat Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:1960s
- Condition:Reupholstered. Refinished. Wear consistent with age and use. reupholstered & refinished - no condition issues to report.
- Seller Location:Framingham, MA
- Reference Number:Seller: risom armchairs 1stDibs: LU5486221380152
Jens Risom
The Danish-born Jens Risom brought the Scandinavian modern 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 Børge Mogensen. In 1939, a year after graduating from business school, Risom decided to move to the U.S.
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, the pioneering mid-century modernist 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 developed a stylistic vocabulary that was a reflection of the life of the man himself: his furniture has Danish warmth coupled with an American air of crisp efficiency. Vintage Risom chairs are 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 on these pages, Jens Risom is one of the great men of American modern design who made furniture that is unique and timeless.
Find a collection of vintage Jens Risom furniture on 1stDibs that includes lounge chairs, desks, coffee tables and more.
- Mid Century Modern Armchairs 'Oval-Back' by Jens Risom - PairBy Jens RisomLocated in Chicago, ILMid Century Modern Armchairs 'Oval-Back' by Jens Risom - Pair The Mid Century Modern Armchairs, known as ‘Oval-Back,’ designed by Jens Risom and offered as a pair, are a stunning ex...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsWool, Walnut
- Mid-Century Modern Upholstered Armchairs By Jens RisomBy Jens RisomLocated in Brooklyn, NYThis pair of mid-century modern armchairs by Jens Risom feature lacquered walnut legs with fully upholstered bodies in moss green tweed that is in keeping with Scandinavian color tre...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFabric, Walnut
- Pair Mid-Century Modern Walnut Armchairs by Jens RisomBy Jens RisomLocated in Brooklyn, NYPair of beautifully restored, model C-120 armchairs by Jens Risom feature sculptural, solid walnut frames with textured, steel blue tweed upholstery. A truly handsome pair of armchai...Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFabric, Walnut
- Mid-Century Vintage Jens Risom Knoll Webbed ArmchairBy Knoll, Jens RisomLocated in Baltimore, MDA stunning iconic cotton strap, webbed, lounge, armchair, 652W design (1943) early edition, designed by Jens Risom for Knoll International. Features a solid maple frame with original woven cotton straps. It is one of the most comfortable pieces you will sit in, the exquisite curved back provides lumbar support making this chair as comfortable as it is beautiful. The removable webbed, basket seat, shell is supported and rests on the arm frame base. Very Rare Vintage Modern Classic design. An iconic piece of furniture, this example has remained in a single collection since it was acquired by the prior owner from Knoll International and the original early label remains affixed beneath. (Knoll Associates Inc. 601 Madison Ave New York 22). This label has the earliest Knoll Associates showroom address, which opened in 1946. Measurements: 24.5 ” tall x 24? wide x 30? deep x seat height 18? (arm height 21") (seat to the lowest point 11") Jens Risom Danish-American architect-designer Jens Risom was born in Copenhagen in 1916, the son of a nationally renowned architect of the Nordic Classicism style. Between 1935 and 1938, he trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts under Ole Wanscher and Kaare Klint, alongside classmates Hans Wegner and Børge Mogensen. For a short time following his studies, he took on furniture and interior designer projects for the Copenhagen-based architectural firm Ernst Kuhn. He then moved briefly to Stockholm, where he worked for Nordiska Kompaniet and met Alvar Aalto and Bruno Mathsson. Around 1939, he immigrated to New York with ambitions to introduce the Scandinavian modernist approach to the US furniture market. Risom’s arrival in the US coincided with the years of materials shortages brought on by the war. As a result, Risom was unable to secure a position in a furniture company, and, instead, found work designing textiles for decorator Dan Cooper. Eager to do more, he soon convinced Cooper to expand into the furniture market, and together they found projects with young, progressive architects like Ed Stone and George Nelson. In 1939-40, Ed Stone was invited to create Collier Magazine’s House of Ideas pavilion at Rockefeller Center as part of the New York World’s Fair, and Risom designed all of the furniture. Around 1941, Risom met Hans Knoll, a German-born entrepreneur in the furniture industry who had a showroom on Madison Avenue dedicated to rather lackluster furnishings. Sharing a dream to do something more vanguard, they joined forces and set off on a four-month tour of the US in search of design inspiration. By 1942, Knoll launched Hans Knoll Furniture Company with Risom on board as his head designer. Risom’s early designs for Knoll made use of military surplus...Category
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
MaterialsFabric, Maple
- Pair of Jens Risom Mid-Century Modern ArmchairsBy Jens RisomLocated in New York, NYDanish Jens Risom attributed Mid-Century Modern armchairs with new wool felt upholstery, circa 1960s . Button tufted. Tapered legs with minor loses and fading to wood. Good original ...Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Chairs
MaterialsWool
$3,650 / set - Mid-Century Modern Leather Walnut Armchair By Jens RisomBy Jens RisomLocated in Brooklyn, NYMid-Century Modern, solid walnut armchair by Jens Risom with seat, back and arms, newly upholstered in a rich cognac leather.Category
Vintage 1960s Danish Scandinavian Modern Armchairs
MaterialsLeather, Walnut
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs
You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.
What Makes Scandinavian Modernism and Nordic Design So Irresistible?
Andrew Duncanson, founder of the Stockholm- and London-based gallery Modernity, weighs in on the masters of mid-century furniture and decorative arts.