Holmegaard Mirror Bud Vase

Danish designer Aksel Kjersgaard founded his eponymous furniture manufacturing company in 1952. Revered by mid-century furniture lovers for its straightforward approach to design of its classic mirrors, which are frequently framed in teak or rosewood — or the graceful, angular forms of its vintage case pieces and storage cabinets — Aksel Kjersgaard is eminently collectible today. It is among the manufacturers that popularized Scandinavian modernism on an international scale, and the popularity of the brand endures.

A master cabinetmaker, Kjersgaard had spent three years traveling through Europe and Morocco toiling in other workshops before he opened his own factory. When he returned to Odder, in his native country, he was eager to start creating his own furniture, and his sleek, minimalist dressers, sideboards, cabinets and wall mirrors debuted in 1955.

The factory quickly gained a sterling reputation for its focus on craftsmanship and Kjersgaard’s reluctance to embellish his handmade pieces with ornament or unnecessary decorative flourishes. Kjersgaard attracted many talents of the Scandinavian modernist movement (and continues to do so today).

Known for his Chair #42, which he created with Schou Andersen, designer Kai Kristiansen worked with the company through the 1950s and 1960s, and his side tables and chests became a hallmark of the brand. During the 1970s, architects and former Rud Rasmussen cabinetmakers Søren Nissen and Ebbe Gehl brought their expertise to the manufacturer, introducing a Shaker-influenced line that represented the start of what is now the very popular Naver collection, which is offered by way of a collaboration between Gramrode Møbelfabrik and Aksel Kjersgaard A/S.

Find vintage Aksel Kjersgaard mirrors, tables and other furniture on 1stDibs. 

Holmegaard has been creating quality glassware for almost two centuries. The legendary glassworks has collaborated with scores of celebrated designers over its long history, including Arne Jacobsen, Louise Campbell, Bodil Kjær and many others, with each artisan crafting vases, bottles and other serveware and decorative objects that are widely loved by collectors and art connoisseurs alike. Today Holmegaard is a powerhouse of functionalist modern Danish glass design.

Holmegaard Glassworks was the dream of Danish Count Christian Danneskiold-Samsøe, who petitioned the king of Denmark for permission to build a factory. Sadly, by the time permission was granted, the count had passed away, leaving his dowager, the Countess Henriette Danneskiold-Samsøe, to carry on her late husband’s dream in 1825. The factory was established in the town of Fensmark in the Holmegaard bog, where rich peat could be harvested and used to fuel the high-temperature kilns required to produce glass there.

The factory initially produced only simple mouth-blown green glass packaging bottles — the need was for glassware that was merely functional. It wasn’t until the 1920s that it made progress as a significant entity in the world of design. There was a fruitful partnership to create dinner glassware with the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory and glass artist Oluf Jensen. This was followed in 1925 by Holmegaard’s hiring Jacob Eiler Bang as the glassworks’ first in-house designer.

Bang was trained as an architect and was working on the Danish Pavilion at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts — the fair that brought the Art Deco style to worldwide attention — when his efforts caught the attention of Holmegaard. Bang believed in the concept of making things that were “beautiful, strong, practical and cheap.” His seductive, functionalist designs for vases, decanters, bottles and other objects — guided by the theories that underpin Scandinavian modernism — garnered acclaim for both Bang and Holmegaard, and he became known as one of the fathers of functionalism in Danish glassware.

Holmegaard went on to work with Per Lütken, who created intricate objects that redefined the factory’s style and Danish glass design as a whole. Lütken produced over 3,000 pieces for the glassworks, including the revered Provence bowl, one of the pieces for which the glassworks is best known. The brand went on to work with other notable artists including Otto Brauer and Jacob Bang’s son, Michael Bang, whose Palet range, Fontaine wine glass range, and Mandarin lamps are among Holmegaard’s most iconic creations.

Today, Holmegaard Glassworks is owned by Rosendahl Design Group. It is Denmark’s largest manufacturer of glass in addition to being the oldest and most historic.

Find vintage Holmegaard sconces, vessels, decorative bowls, tableware and other pieces on 1stDibs.