JENS RISOM
Jens Risom was a versatile, successful Danish-American designer and businessman, one of the first designers to introduce modernist aesthetics and values to the American public. Born in Copenhagen in 1916, the son of award-winning architect Sven Risom and Inger Risom (nee Henriques), he went on to graduate from the Copenhagen School of Industrial Arts and Design and later, the Niels Brock Business College. Following his studies, he began his career as a furniture and interior designer for the Danish architect Ernst Kuhn. In 1937, his early furniture designs for Gustav Weinreich of ALS Normina were included in that year’s Copenhagen Cabinet Makers' Guild exhibition.
In early 1939 Risom emigrated to the United States to study contemporary American furniture; instead, he found work at a small textile firm. During this time, he met Hans Knoll, a German immigrant with family in the furniture business. Together, Risom and Knoll launched the Hans Knoll Furniture Company in 1942. Of the 20 pieces in the original “600” Line, Risom designed 15. During the war years it was difficult to source material, so Risom designed simple and elegant furniture with birch wood and surplus parachute netting.
Risom’s furniture career was interrupted by the Second World War. In 1943 he was drafted into the Army to serve under General George S.Patton in Europe. After the war, Risom returned to New York and in 1946 he left Knoll to start his own firm, Jens Risom Design. After his departure from Knoll, Risom and Hans Knoll never spoke again. JRD advertised both office and residential furniture in campaigns photographed by Richard Avedon with the tagline “The Answer is Risom.”
In 1949, Risom and his family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut. In 1955, Risom vastly expanded his production capabilities when the Connecticut Development Commission asked him to set up a factory in North Grosvenor Dale. The Risom Manufacturing Company soon became a respected, successful business in the area, producing furniture for hospitals, libraries, offices, and hotels.
His work was embraced in popular culture and by the design world. In 1961, he was featured in a Playboy article ”Revolutionizing Furniture in America” alongside Charles Eames, George Nelson, Eero Saarinen, Edward Wormley and Harry Bertoia. Risom’s C140 chair, which was shown in the Playboy article, was made famous when President Lyndon B. Johnson selected the chair for the Oval Office. Throughout the later years of Risom’s career, he drew attention to his work through partnerships with the luxury furniture dealer Ralph Pucci as well as Design Within Reach and Rocket, in London.
Risom was married twice, first to Iben Haderup, who died in 1977, and then to Dr. Henny Panduro Madsen, who died in 2015.
His works, many considered modern classics, are on view in museums all over the world, including Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and Yale University Art Gallery. He also served two terms as a trustee of the Rhode Island School of Design, and was knighted by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
He died at home in New Canaan, CT on December 9, 2016. He was 100.
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