Description
A fantastic walnut sideboard by Jens Risom Design Limited. To the left and right hand sides of this piece are two large cupboard spaces. One shelf is present and this can be easily placed within either of the cupboard spaces. There are five drawers to the centre of the sideboard, offering all sorts of storage options. The three smaller drawers have useful dividers in place and the two larger drawers can be used as space-saving filing cabinets. A good supply of filing pockets come with this piece but these can be easily lifted out if tour just looking for more drawer sppace. This multi-purpose sideboard epitomizes Scandinavian mid century modern: gorgeous woodgrain, expert craftsmanship, and highly functional design. The sideboard comes with 2 original keys.
Jens Risom is a Danish-American designer who is credited as having brought Danish design to America. He was trained at the Copenhagen School of Industrial Art and Design before moving to New York to become a founding member of Hans Knoll Furniture Company and then setting up Jens Risom Design.
Around 1941, Risom met Hans Knoll, a German-born entrepreneur in the furniture industry who had a showroom on Madison Avenue dedicated to rather lackluster furnishings. Sharing a dream to do something more vanguard, they joined forces and set off on a four-month tour of the US in search of design inspiration. By 1942, Knoll launched Hans Knoll Furniture Company with Risom on board as his head designer.
When Risom returned from the war in late 1945, the atmosphere at Knoll’s company had shifted, due in large part to the increasing influence of Knoll’s soon-to-be-wife, Florence Schust. It seems that the tastes of Risom and Schust were incompatible, as he favored the softer, homier aesthetics of his Scandinavian roots mixed with vernacular Americana, while she was mentored by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and was commited to pushing the minimalist, Bauhaus look. In 1946, Risom officially parted ways with Knoll and launched his own New York-based firm Jens Risom Design (JRD).
For 25 years—during the heyday of postwar modernism—Risom’s company built an international reputation for solid wood furniture in the Scandinavian style. His advertising campaigns, photographed by Richard Avedon, were widely acclaimed. Risom was included in the legendary 1961 Playboy Magazine article “Designs for Living,” alongside Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia, Eero Saarinen, Edward Wormley, and George Nelson. One of Risom’s executive office chairs was famously selected by President Lyndon Johnson for the Oval Office.
L198 x D51 x H69cm
