About Jens Risom
| Project | The Risom Residence |
| Area | 700 square foot |
| Location | Block Island, Rhode Island |
| Photos | Floto + Warner |
Jens Risom, a famous furniture designer, has announced himself as a talented architect. Popular magazines were shocked to learn that he built a nice summer house for his family for less than $30 000, because previously they had written that it was impossible. He got in touch with one of the popular newspapers and said that he built such an inexpensive prefab frame house they couldn’t believe.
Jens Risom tells that he has found the triangular prefab framing in catalog and brought it to Rhode Island to construct a prefabricated house there. Eventually, the block-modular building system has become more developed, since the post-war period the reputation of such houses was almost zero. Houses were built quickly and they were of poor quality. Jens Risom has proved that prefabs can be constructed due to new standards with wooden frames, an incredibly high ceiling and more other peculiarities. Having been worked for years as a designer, it was not that hard for Jens to create his home project.
Risom was born in Copenhagen in 1916 in the family of the prosperous architect. He remembers with emotional warmth how he liked to spend his childhood with family in Denmark far from the urban bustle. He admits that his father, being the author of a book about house building, had a great influence on him and was the authority for him. His father often struggled with different situations when he couldn’t drive his project to the end. Jens, wishing to gain full control over his objects, suggested father’s struggles to be enormous. He tells with pleasure that he was always fond of design because architecture is the most elegant art he knows.
After finishing the studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts he began to gain experience in architecture, working for the architect E. Kuhn. Back at that time, Jens Risom began to think about designer career in the United States. He stopped his thoughts on modern furniture design. He stayed in Manhattan in search of appropriate conditions to start his own business. His first serious proposal became from Dan Cooper who was creating soft goods, being the reputable and well-known decorator. This proposal was not to the young and ambitious Jens liking, because he did not plan to focus his designer career on textiles. Sometime after that, he was allowed to demonstrate to the public some furniture designed by himself. This greatly increased the authority of Cooper.
Risom’s talent was noticed right from the jump, for the reason that Cooper’s works were being performed in a quiet style for many years. Over a pretty short period of time Jens found his admirers and world designers began to learn about him and come to his shows. Jens has been working with Cooper for a few years and finally he had realized that he had no opportunity to control the whole process. For this reason he had separated from Cooper and became an independent unit in the design world. All the more authority he had acquired helping Hans Knoll to finish and represent society his first collection of furniture.
The fate of the young designer was intervened by the Second World War without remorse. For several years he was serving abroad. After returning back to New York, he decided to continue his career all alone and start his own collection under his name. Jens’s popularity gradually began to move into top gear and by the beginning of the 60’s, people had come in scores to employ to Risom’s designer company.
While living with his family in Connecticut, Jens was looking for the most comfortable place on Block Island to build a summer house to have a rest there. His wife with children preferred to spend summer in their rented apartment on the seaside and far from urban hustle, remembering how they lived in Denmark. Finally, after a couple of years, he found a convenient place for house construction in the North of Block Island. Before he started to build, he had been seeking out modules for his prefab wooden frame house. He was looking quite long for the most fitted materials that could cost not too much and weather out wild winds, specific to Block Island’s area. At last, he found a respectful design and construction company in Wayland, Massachusetts. It has fulfilled all Risom’s requirements and wishes – cathedral ceilings, panoramic glass wall to let nature inside, wood surfaces with a soft shade and also 10 feet of extra territory. That’s all coasted him over twenty thousand US dollars. After all of the blocks and house parts had been ordered, he developed a design for the construction of his new home. When everything was thoroughly planned, he took care of the safe order transportation through Rhode Island to Block Island. The base of the house was slightly elevated. But it had been targeted so skillfully that no one would ever guess.
It is well-known that the weather on the island is not so quiet as everyone wants it to be. Block Island is famous for its foggy moments when there is no allusion to fogs but in a short period of time, everything is covered with heavy mist and people cannot even see each other, staying quite close. These circumstances made the home being built five weeks longer than it was expected. Construction of the prefab wooden frame house was completed in late spring and at the beginning of the summer Risom's family, finally, settled in a new home. However, they moved there not in a full complement, as daughters have been already living in their own homes.
Only two small floors, but the lower one contains two bedrooms, bathroom and kitchen facilities, a living room and a dining room. Meanwhile, boys territory is on the upper floor. What a magical place to escape from the routine of everyday life! Indeed, from the end of spring and till the end of autumn (those were periods of time when Jens could escape from his work and stay with his wife and sons) Risom's family was spending time providing different kinds of activities - from fishing to bushwalks.
From time to time, prefab wooden frame house design was supplemented with new details; old parts were replaced with new, something had to be repaired after years that the family lived there. For instance, a building superintendent, John Spier, had helped to replace old glass parts that were rigidly attached to the wooden frame, to new parts that were not so dangerous as old ones. He admitted that to work with large glass was every time fearfully for him. He explained, that it always existed a risk that the glass would be broken to atoms and hurt him and would even make him bleed. But he knew that the new glass would be safer than the old one. Being 97 years old, Jens with his wife arrived to the Block Island to see their new glass in the frame.
Jens admits that he always worried that his summer house would look too new when he wanted to change something in it. His son Sven wonders, how his father always managed to change something and to make it better than it really was. With a faint smile on his face, he tells that his father, being serious to his creation, is proud that he has made his family happy with their prefab wooden frame home. He felt that the inspiration came to him from the natural village lifestyle. Risom remembers that his life in Denmark was different from today's city life but it was so nice.
About Jens Risom
Jens Risom is a Danish furniture designer.
Jens Risom was one of the first to import the Scandinavian style to the United States, where he emigrated in 1939 and worked with Hans Knoll.
He is the author of a famous Risom Lounge Chair published by Knoll.
In 2016, Jens Risom celebrates one hundred years and dies the same year.
After completing two years at the Business College of Niels Brock in Copenhagen, Risom worked briefly for Danish architect Ernst Kuhn and also for a small design studio/shop in Stockholm that specialized in residential furniture. While in Sweden Risom gained additional experience in the design department at Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) where he was further exposed to the work of Bruno Mathsson and others including the Finnish architect, Alvar Aalto.
Risom began his formal studies in furniture design under the direction of Ole Wanscher at Kunsthåndvaerkerskolen, the School for Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen. From 1935 – 1938, along with classmates Hans Wegner and Borge Mogensen, Risom learned the value of simplicity and utility from master craftsmen like Kaare Klint who also headed up the furniture school at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
The enduring influence of good Danish design can be traced back to the efforts of dedicated craftsmen and designers who firmly believed in the value of sharing the techniques and aesthetics of their crafts to aspiring young students. Early Free-lance Years
Risom created several furniture designs for Gustav Weinreich of A/S Normina in Copenhagen. These early designs for Normina were shown in 1937 at the Cabinetmaker's Guild Exhibition.
In 1938, after a chance meeting with the American Ambassador to Denmark, Risom decided to go to New York to further his studies while familiarizing himself with contemporary American furniture design.
Arriving in 1939, Risom soon discovered that there were no real opportunities for study or work in his field. Instead, Risom was given an introduction through the Museum of Modern Art to the fabric and interior designer, Dan Cooper. Risom’s original textile designs, created solely for his interview with Cooper, landed him his first free-lance project in America.
More work followed, including original furniture designed and built for the Collier’s House of Ideas, a model house built on a terrace at Rockefeller Center overlooking Fifth Avenue. Designed by Edward D. Stone, who personally chose Risom to design all the furniture, the Collier’s House project created a wider interest in Risom’s ability to design furniture that fit perfectly into the new homes being built by architects like Stone.
In 1941, having recently completed plans for a new furniture department for Georg Jensen in New York City, Risom joined forces with Hans Knoll, a young energetic entrepreneur who, though he understood the basics of the furniture business, was not a designer. Finding they made a good team together, the two set out with their wives on a cross-country tour visiting modern architects while simultaneously gaining a better understanding of the potential market for a new line of modern furniture that Risom would design and Knoll would sell.
In 1942 when the Hans Knoll Furniture Company was launched, 15 of the first 20 pieces – the “600” line – were pure Risom in design and construction with a subtle Scandinavian sense of modernity that created even more interest in the young designer’s abilities. These were the first and last pieces Risom would design for Knoll.
Married and with a young daughter, Risom, like many of his contemporaries, was soon drafted into the U.S. Army. Initially planning to work within the Army’s Industrial Design Unit at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, Risom eventually joined the Army’s Civil Affairs Department. Arriving in Great Britain, he was then assigned to the Headquarters of Third Army under General George Patton where he began training for the upcoming European invasions.
Risom stayed with the Third Army as it made its way though France and Germany until the end of the war. Returning to New York, Jens briefly continued his free-lance consulting with Hans Knoll, who had by then married Florence Shust and renamed the company H. G. Knoll Associates.
But Jens had also decided that it was time to form his own concern, Jens Risom Design, Inc. (JRD), which he launched on May 1st, 1946.
JRD
At that time, there were very few companies in the States that specialized in good quality modern furniture. And while Knoll would continue to rely on a wide variety of designers, JRD always had just one, Jens. In this way Risom clearly established a niche for his new firm by focusing on the Risom name as the answer to America’s search for well-designed and well-crafted contemporary furniture. Although Knoll continued to produce Risom-designed furniture, they agreed to remove his name from their products in 1952 so that Jens would not be competing against himself with his new company’s designs.
According to Risom, “In order for us or for anybody to establish a reputation for high quality, you have to fully control the entire process. Doing business that way we were fairly certain that we would always be known not only for design but also for good construction and detailing (the designer’s job), good manufacturing reflecting solid craftsmanship, and good follow up in sales and service. And we were willing to pay for that.”
In the early 1950s, Risom created a series of bold new advertisements with the tagline: The Answer is Risom. Featuring uncompromisingly direct photographs by Richard Avedon, Risom’s subtle new designs were shown in use against a white seamless background with no extraneous details. The response to Risom’s new furniture was tremendous, forcing JRD in 1954 to expand its manufacturing facilities to a large new site in Connecticut.
Late in the 1950s, JRD began to shift away from residential furniture to designing and producing non-residential furniture, focusing primarily on office management furniture but also producing hospital, and library furniture.
By the 1960s, JRD had showrooms in all the major U.S. markets as well as overseas where the company had licensed their designs with respected local manufacturers to reduce the high cost of exporting goods.
By 1970, after nearly 25 steadfast years of design and manufacturing control, Risom had begun exploring the idea of freeing himself from direct control over JRD’s manufacturing and production responsibilities so that he could spend more of his time designing, collaborating with architects, and watching over production from a higher level.
A short time later, the Dictaphone Corporation, an office machines company that traced its roots back to Alexander Graham Bell, presented their proposal to purchase JRD as a way to quickly add upscale executive office furniture to their respected office product line. Shortly after the purchase, the president of Dictaphone passed away. Unfamiliar with their new acquisition and the industry, the new management team changed direction once again and eliminated furniture from their line. A series of sales to poorly selected companies not familiar with either the furniture business or the values of good design eventually led to the sad and ultimate demise of JRD.
But even after 30 years, the spirit of JRD lives on. Each year JRD’s manufacturing employees and managers meet for a reunion and celebration of their glory years in furniture design, manufacturing, sales and service.
Design Control
By 1973, Jens was once again pursuing several new interests through his free-lance design service, Design Control, located in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he currently resides with his wife, Henny.
New clients have included the Howe Furniture Company, Do-More, Gaylord (library furniture) and many others for whom Risom has developed designs quite different from his work at JRD but incorporating the same high standards for clients who were eager to upgrade their product lines – in furniture, interiors and buildings.
In March 2005 Ralph Pucci International introduced a new line of Risom-designed furniture – some totally new and others inspired by older designs, including a sofa, a slipper chair, dining tables, side tables and a classic Risom armchair.
Awards and Achievements
- Risom has received a variety of architecture and design awards both here and in Europe. His chairs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Yale Museum of Art & Design, the Brooklyn Museum, the R.I.S.D. Museum in Providence, Rhode Island, and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution in New York City.
- In 1970 Risom was appointed as a trustee of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and is still active on the Board. During their 120th Commencement Ceremonies on June 7, 2003, RISD conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree on Risom, noting he was “one of the most influential furniture designers of the 20th century.”
- In November 1994 Risom became the third recipient of the Brooklyn Museum/Modernism Design Award for Lifetime Achievement. The Museum’s permanent collection contains designs by Risom as well as by Ettore Sottass, Frank Gehry and Eero Saarinen, among others.
- In 1996, Queen Margrethe of Denmark knighted Risom with the prestigious Danish Knight’s Cross.
Having designed the first chair for Knoll in 1941, Risom was honored by the company in 1997 when Knoll reissued a collection of Risom-designed side and lounge chairs, stools and tables that remain today a successful part of the Knoll Studio line. http://www.knoll.com/designer/designer_detail.jsp?designer_id=97
- In 2004, Risom was honored with the annual Russel Wright Award, presented to today’s leaders who carry forward one or more dimensions of Wright’s legacy in design. www.russelwrightcenter.org/risom.html
In March, 2005 Ralph Pucci International introduced a new line of Risom-designed furniture – some totally new and others inspired by older designs, including a sofa, a slipper chair, dining tables, side tables and a classic Risom armchair. http://www.ralph-pucci.com
JR Philosophy
Risom once summed up his philosophy this way:
"Good design means that anything good will go well with other equally good things – contemporary or traditional."
“Furniture is not sculpture, nor is a particular design created only for visual appearance. Furniture clearly satisfy all requirements: It should be used, enjoyed and respected.”
If the Answer Is Risom, what are the questions?
The three most-frequently asked questions of Jens:
- Is furniture Functional or Decorative?
- What does Contemporary really mean?
- What is Good Design?
Risom’s Answers:
1. Furniture is primarily functional. A chair has to be comfortable and support one’s body although Frank Lloyd Wright once told me that he did not agree with this because, as he said, “God did not intend for man to be seated!” Furniture should also look attractive and express the designer’s ideas and taste.
2. Contemporary means that the design is created in our time for today’s people, environments, habits and activities. Antique styles we all admire now were also once contemporary and undoubtedly were questioned when new just as ours are today.
Many of my designs from 60 years ago are now categorized as Mid-Twentieth Century, which of course makes me feel rather old! People ask me if I think these designs will still be around in another 50 years. Well, I won’t be around then so I’m too concerned about that!
3. Design is Problem Solving. Good design therefore is a good solution that satisfies many requirements. While furniture must be attractive in appearance, the detailing, materials, execution and craftsmanship that go into the overall design must also be of a very high standard, whether the product is mass-produced or made by hand.
Beautiful Prefab Wooden Frame House by Jens Risom, Rhode Island