Early Jens Risom Compass Chair for His Own Company

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Early Jens Risom Compass Chair for His Own Company

About the Item

Rare dining or side chair in birch with compass-shaped legs designed by Jens Risom and produced by his fledgling eponymous company in 1947. Part of an innovative design series previewed in Interiors Magazine in March of 1947 and lauded for its ingenuity, charm, directness and simplicity. Per the review, "the elegant, swift lines of Jens Risom's furniture, presented here, are characteristic of all designs from his new firm...With the aim of using the finest available materials and craftsmanship, [Risom] specializes in developing groups of interrelated pieces and single models, rather than the conventional room suites." The present chair, with the tapered angularity of the compass-shaped legs and the gentle curves of the upholstered seat and back, flows from Risom's iconic Knoll designs of the early 1940's and relates to Pierre Jeanneret's Scissor chair for Knoll and the Eames DCW for Herman Miller, both also produced in the immediate aftermath of WWII in an organic design idiom. And the cantilevered architecture of the undercarriage, along with the solidly proportioned compass legs, prefigured Jeanneret's collaborative work with Le Corbusier at Chandigarh, especially the Punjab University seating of 1958. Likely produced in very small numbers--a handful perhaps for his 1942 George Jensen commission, followed by a small run in 1947-- thIs is one of only two examples I have encountered in over thirty years in the field. Newly upholstered, with a cleaned and polished original finish to the wood. With vintage self-leveling vinyl glides.

Creator:
Jens Risom (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 31.5 in (80.01 cm)Width: 19.5 in (49.53 cm)Depth: 21.5 in (54.61 cm)Seat Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Birch,Fabric
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1940-1949
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1947
Condition:
Reupholstered. Wear consistent with age and use. Minor losses. Minor fading. The wood has been cleaned and polished but retains original finish and patina, now mottled. Seat and back are newly upholstered.
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU828529684062

Shop All Jens Risom

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.

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