Jens Risom Furniture
Danish, American, 1916-2016
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.
Color: Beige
Creator: Jens Risom
Jens Risom Danish Mid-Century Beige Leather and Walnut Console Table
By Jens Risom
Located in New York, NY
Danish Mid-Century console table with a walnut frame and rectangular table top with a beige leather wrap. (JENS RISOM).
Category
20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Leather, Wood, Walnut
Jens Risom Danish Kidney-Shaped Beige Mica and Walnut Cocktail / Coffee Table
By Jens Risom
Located in New York, NY
Danish Mid-Century coffee / cocktail table with a kidney-shaped table top with a beige marbled mica veneer resting on a walnut base with a cruciform stretcher and angled legs. (JENS ...
Category
20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Wood, Walnut
Jens Risom Mid Century Walnut Stools, Set of 4
By Jens Risom
Located in Countryside, IL
Jens Risom Mid Century walnut stools - Set of 4
Each stool measures: 20 wide x 16 deep x 16.5 high, with a seat height of 16.5 inches
Al...
Category
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Upholstery
Jens Risom Lounge Chair for Knoll International
By Jens Risom
Located in Munich, DE
Jens Risom lounge chair for Knoll International. Webbing redone. model no. 652.
LOCATED IN HAMBURG
Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Wood
Pair of Jens Risom Armchairs
By Jens Risom
Located in New York, NY
Pair of Jens Risom armchairs with black lacquered wood frames.
Category
1960s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Upholstery, Wood
Jens Risom Upholstered Lounge Chair
By Jens Risom
Located in St.Petersburg, FL
A comfortable and stylish Jens Risom upholstered armchair, circa 1950s. Rare design with original early label still intact.
Category
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Upholstery
Jens Risom Model 108 Walnut Side Chairs
By Jens Risom
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Poised, elegant pair of 1950s walnut armchairs, model 108 designed by Jens Risom. This scarce pair is newly upholstered in a luxurious, earthy sage leather, ...
Category
1950s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Related Items
Pair of Jens Risom Mid-Century Modern Armchairs
By Jens Risom
Located in New York, NY
Danish 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
1960s Danish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Wool
Jens Risom Lounge Chair Model U430
By Jens Risom
Located in New York, NY
Jens Risom lounge chair U430 for Risom Inc. Mid-Century Modern Lounge Chair designed by Jens Risom produced by Jens Risom Inc. Iconic walnut lounge chair model U430 by Jens Risom. So...
Category
1950s North American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Velvet, Walnut
Jens Risom Pair of 'Vostra' Lounge Chairs with Ottoman
By Walter Knoll, Jens Risom
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Jens Risom for Walter Knoll, pair of 'Vostra' chairs with ottoman, beech, pink canvas, brass, United States, design 1941, production 1950s
Elegant lounge chairs with ottoman with be...
Category
1940s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Brass
One Vintage Jens Risom for Knoll Lounge Chairs
By Knoll, Jens Risom
Located in Pasadena, TX
One mid-century modern armless lounge chair designed by Jens Risom for Knoll originally in 1946. This early design has a hard maple frame with new linen upholstery.
Category
1950s Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Fabric, Maple
Set of 2 Mid-Century Style Triangle Stools in Nouvelles Vagues, Vintola, Europe
Located in 05-080 Hornowek, PL
Stools inspired by 60s style. The stools consists of an upholstered part, a seat and wooden legs narrowing downwards, characteristic of the 1960s style. They are absolutely unique. We can prepare them also in another wood and boucle color. Designed in 2022 in Poland.
About the fabric:
The warp and weft of an idea
A velvet jacquard that pays a visual and tactile homage to the tiger’s coat...
Category
2010s Polish Mid-Century Modern Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Bouclé, Velvet, Wood
H 17.72 in W 13 in D 13 in
Jens Risom Style BL Marble Mid Century Walnut Executive Desk
By B.L. Marble Furniture, Jens Risom
Located in Countryside, IL
Jens Risom Style BL Marble Mid Century Walnut Executive Desk
This desk measures: 66 wide x 30 deep x 28.75 high, with a chair clearance of 25.25 inches
All...
Category
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Chrome
Midcentury Jens Risom Floating Top Coffee Table Bench
By Jens Risom
Located in Baltimore, MD
Vintage midcentury 1960s modern walnut coffee table, long bench by Jens Risom. This beautiful Jens Risom table features walnut top gracefully suspended above tapered and flared legs....
Category
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Walnut
Jens Risom Mid Century 10 Foot Walnut Dining Table
By Jens Risom
Located in Countryside, IL
Jens Risom Mid Century 10 Foot Walnut Dining Table
This dining table measures: 119.25 wide x 48 deep x 30 inches high, with a chair clearance of 28.5 inches
All pieces of furniture...
Category
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Walnut
Mid-Century Modern Walnut Writing Desk by Jens Risom
By Jens Risom
Located in North Hollywood, CA
Exceptional Mid-Century Modern walnut writing desk by Jens Risom and manufactured in the United States, circa 1950s. This desk has a conserv...
Category
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Aluminum
Set of Two Mid-Century Modern Light Beige Boucle Stool, Europe, 1960s
Located in 05-080 Hornowek, PL
Stool from the turn of the 1960s and 1970s. Beautiful, well crafted light boucle upholstery. The stool consists of an upholstered part, a seat and wooden legs narrowing downwards, ch...
Category
Mid-20th Century Polish Mid-Century Modern Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Bouclé, Wood
H 15.75 in W 15.75 in D 15.75 in
Mid-Century Vintage Jens Risom Knoll Webbed Armchair
By Knoll, Jens Risom
Located in Baltimore, MD
A 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
1940s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Fabric, Maple
Vintage Kidney Shaped Coffee Table
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Vintage-modern kidney shaped coffee table featuring stone composite top and wooden base.
Please confirm item location NY or NJ with dealer.
Category
1960s Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Previously Available Items
Jens Risom Beige Textured Upholstery and Teak Wide Seat Slipper Chair
By Jens Risom
Located in New York, NY
Danish mid-century slipper / side chair with a wide curved seat cushion and smaller low back cushion, upholstered in a beige and brown textured fabric, resting on a teak base with sq...
Category
20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Wood, Fabric, Upholstery, Teak
Newly Upholstered Jens Risom Daybed, Germany 1950s
By Jens Risom
Located in Berlin, DE
Vostra Daybed by Jens Risom, newly upholstered in Kvadrat fabric.
Category
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Leather, Fabric
Rare Pair of Jens Risom Lounge Chairs
By Jens Risom
Located in Munich, DE
New foam and wonderful fabric.
Category
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Fabric
Rare Set of Two Lounge Chairs by Jens Risom for Re-Upholstery
By Jens Risom
Located in Munich, DE
Foam and fabric need to be ro-done.
Category
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Fabric
Rare Set of Two No.21 Lounge Chairs by Jens Risom for Knoll
By Jens Risom
Located in Munich, DE
Very early knoll design - belts, foam and fabric redone.
Category
1940s German Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Fabric
Important Series 65 Sofa and Lounge Chairs Set by Jens Risom, circa 1960s
By Jens Risom
Located in Westport, CT
One of Jens Risom's most sought after and rarest designs. Series 65 sofa and lounge chairs, dubbed "The Sled Collection".
Low and wide profile set featuring extremely comfortable...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Brass
Vintage Jens Risom Lounge Chairs and Ottoman Restored in Brazilian Sheepskin
By Jens Risom
Located in SAINT LOUIS, MO
We love the lines of these chairs, so simple, so Scandinavian. Danish-born Jens Risom was one of the first designers hired by Knoll Inc. He played an integral role in introducing Ame...
Category
Mid-20th Century Danish Scandinavian Modern Jens Risom Furniture
H 30 in W 27.5 in D 29 in
Jens Risom Lounge Chair and Ottoman
By Jens Risom
Located in San Francisco, CA
Large-scale Jens Risom Design lounge chair and ottoman. Rare example in excellent original condition with new cushion inserts for comfort, labeled.
Category
1950s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Jens Risom Floating Upholstered Bench
By Jens Risom
Located in St.Petersburg, FL
An elegant, Mid-Century upholstered bench by Jens Risom. Upholstered floating top on a walnut base.
Category
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Set of Six Newly Upholstered Jens Risom Dining Conference Room Chairs
By Jens Risom
Located in Rockaway, NJ
Set of six very shape looking oiled walnut Jens Risom chairs.
Category
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Jens Risom Furniture
Materials
Walnut
Pink Marble Coffee Table by Jens Risom, circa 1960, American
By Jens Risom
Located in Jersey City, NJ
Coffee table by Jens Risoms has original labels underneath. The top is a 36 inch round 3/4 inch thick sealed piece of pink marble with flakes of lighter shades throughout sits on top...
Category
1960s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Pair of Lounge Chairs by Jens Risom
By Jens Risom
Located in Dallas, TX
A pair of lounge chairs with walnut bases. Designed by Jens Risom.
Category
1960s Vintage Jens Risom Furniture
Jens Risom furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Jens Risom furniture are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wood and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Jens Risom furniture, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. We have 323 vintage editions of these items in-stock, while there is 5 modern edition to choose from as well. Many of the original furniture by Jens Risom were created in the mid-century modern style in north america during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider furniture by Fredericia, Florence Knoll, and Craft Associates. Prices for Jens Risom furniture can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $350 and can go as high as $35,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $4,213.
Creators Similar to Jens Risom
Questions About Jens Risom Furniture
- Who is Jens Risom?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Jens Risom was a Danish designer. Many people credit him with bringing the modern style of Scandinavian design to the U.S. He is well-known for his chairs, which feature angled seat backs often upholstered with webbing. On 1stDibs, find a selection of Jens Risom furniture.
- Was Jens Risom Danish?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Yes, Jens Risom was Danish. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 8, 1916, and attended Copenhagen School of Industrial Arts and Design. Following his graduation, Risom moved to the U.S., where he lived for the rest of his life. On 1stDibs, find a collection of Jens Risom furniture.
- Who sells Jens Risom rockers?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022Normally, vintage furniture dealers or auction and online platforms specializing in authentic vintage furniture sell Jens Risom rockers. From time to time, rocking chairs produced by the Danish designer may appear at thrift shops and secondhand stores or be available directly from individuals who own them. On 1stDibs, find a selection of Jens Risom chairs.