Arne Jacobsen’s total work of art #Arne Jacobsen

Some of the chairs designed by the Danish architect and designer Arne Jacobsen were named after natural elements: the Egg, the Swan, the Tongue, the Ant, etc. All of them have an organic shape that contrast with the clear prismatic shapes of Jacobsen’s architecture. Jacobsen’s both chairs and armchairs are amongst the top-selling pieces of furniture in the history of design, sometimes outshining the buildings that they were created for.

The two better-known armchairs by Jacobsen, the “Egget” and “Svanen” chairs, were designed as part of the equipment of the complex formed by the Royal Hotel and the SAS building in Copenhagen. These embracing armchairs make their own space, isolated from the rush of the hotel hall, where customers can feel sheltered and protected. Besides these chairs, Jacobsen also designed the rest of the equipment of the hotel, including furniture, carpets, lighting, silverware, glassware and so forth.

Another one of the buildings were Jacobsen developed his comprehensive artwork was St. Catherine’s College, in Oxford. There he designed from the beginning every aspect of the project, from the landscape and buildings down to the furniture and cutlery. Jacobsen designed the Oxford chairs for the main table in the large dining room. They have a tall backrest of made of bent plywood that shares the monumental proportions of the room. Individually these chairs are sculptural and elegant, but all together around a table they enclose the space to form their own private dining room. Again we can notice the passion for details, accuracy and mannerism which were the main features of Jacobsen’s work.