While you are shopping for cookware and cutlery for your Mid Century Modern kitchen or stocking up on MCM entertaining essentials, you may come across designs by Jens Quistgaard.
This Danish designer’s works became extremely popular in the 1950s and onward, and you can still shop for them today. Let’s learn more about Quistgaard’s impressive life and career, and how he helped to transform the American kitchen.
Training and Education
Jens Quistgaard was born on April 23, 1919. As a child growing up in Copenhagen, young Quistgaard showed an early knack for crafting and design. He did some of his earliest work with an anvil and vice in a zone of the family kitchen that he converted into his workshop. His father Harald Quistgaard taught him about sculpting, while he picked up crafting skills in a range of materials from professionals in the community.
So, Quistgaard already had an impressive bedrock of knowledge when he attended technical school for formal training as a silversmith and drawer designer.
Quistgaard’s early creations included everything from hunting knives to jewelry. Over time, however, he began to specialize increasingly in kitchenware.
Above, you see the famous 1953-1954 Fjord cutlery set. At the time, teak handles on stainless steel forks, knives and spoons were unexpected. The distinctive shapes and materials popularized the set, which in turn, cemented Quistgaard’s popularity as a designer.
In fact, the set caught the eye of Ted Nierenberg, a businessman from the US who was scouting Europe for fresh new designers. He arranged to meet with Quistgaard. Nierenberg saw the potential for Quistgaard’s designs to take the American market by storm. To make his vision a reality, he created Dansk Designs. Quistgaard joined the company as its chief designer, and a legend was born.
Work with Dansk Designs
Quistgaard spent three decades with Dansk Designs. Some well known Dansk products he created included the Tjorn cutlery set (pictured above), the Toke cutlery set, the Flamestone dinner set, Kobenstyle kitchenware and others. These products were marketed principally at Americans.
As you are no doubt aware, one of the characteristics of Mid Century Modern architecture is homes with open floor plans. Kitchens and living rooms often would be part of one open flow of space, rather than the kitchen being an enclosed room cut off from the rest of the house.
This is why Mid Century Modern kitchens tend to be so beautiful, with elements like warm wood, eye-catching tile, and bright pops of color. Naturally, homeowners wanted their cookware and cutlery to fit seamlessly into this fresh aesthetic. Quistgaard’s Scandinavian Modern designs through Dansk were the perfect answer to that need.
Along with cutlery and enameled cookware, Quistgaard became famous for his large collection of peppermills, many of which call to mind chess pieces. This site is a fantastic source of information on these functional kitchen “sculptures” made of teak and other types of wood.
Where to Buy Designs by Jens Quistgaard
If you enjoy the MCM designs of Jens Quistgaard, you will be excited to learn that you can purchase authentic pieces for your collection.
Dansk itself still exists, and continues to sell Kobenstyle kitchenware by Quistgaard. And here you can buy the Tjorn flatware set.
If you prefer, you can add vintage pieces to your collection. For example, you can find a selection of vintage Quistgaard cookware and cutlery at JensenSilver.com. Some pieces can even fit within a relatively modest budget.
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