Arne Jacobsen 1902 – 1971, Danish architect and designer. He emerged as the single most influential Danish architect of the 20th century as well as the designer of modern furniture classics as the Ant, Series 7, Swan and Egg Chair. In 1924 Jacobsen enrolled as architecture student at the Royal Academy of the Arts in Copenhagen. Just a year later in 1925 he traveled to France and won a silver medal for a chair design in the Paris Art Deco fair. During that trip he visited Le Corbusier’s L’Esprit Nouveau pavilion which left a long lasting impression on Jacobsen. After graduating from the academy he was mainly focused on his career in architecture and steadily earned his reputation as a modern architect. In 1943, during World War II, Jacobsen was forced to go into exile to Sweden due to his Jewish background. There, his architecture work was very limited, instead he was designing wallpaper and fabrics. When he returned to Denmark in 1945 he resumed his career in architecture.
Only during 1950s Jacobsen became increasingly interested in furniture and product design. His inspiration mainly came from Charles and Ray Eames. His first well know design – the Ant chair, made of bent plywood, was completed in 1951. Later in 1955 came Series 7. Both of these designs were very compact, light and were easily stackable. The Ant and Series 7 chairs have become one of the most popular chairs of the 20th century. In 1956 Jacobsen was commissioned to design for the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen including every element of the hotel. During this time he designed the Egg and the Swan chairs. One of the other products he created for this project was a stainless steel cutlery that was later featured in Stanley Kubrick’s movie 2001:Space Odyssey. It was chosen for it’s futuristic design. The Cylinda Line stainless steel cocktail kit and tableware designed by him in 1967 has become another 20th century classic. It took Jacobsen 3 years to perfect Cylinda line of 17 objects. The design was based on the shape of a cylinder. It has won numerous design awards internationally. Jacobsen became a well-recognized architect in Denmark, but in rest of the world he was more known as a furniture and product designer.