Education:
Jacob Jensen (JJ) finished 7th grade and began training as an apprentice saddler and upholsterer in 1942. The business also did upholstery and upholstery of furniture. JJ completed his apprenticeship with what he described as a journeyman piece: “…a chair with earflaps and springs in the arms – a hideous thing, upholstered in large flowered cretonne to make it look like a broad-backed fishmonger’s wife…”. Upholstery was not JJ’s passion, the last sofa he worked on was in 1949.
Alongside his apprenticeship and journeyman days, he worked with his father. This resulted in a series of self-created (designed) chairs. An architect happened to pass by, praised the furniture and encouraged JJ to apply to technical school. At the Technical School in Copenhagen, JJ was trained as a furniture designer. He took his final exam on March 31, 1952.
Work:
From 1952 to 1959, JJ worked at the Bernadotte & Bjørn design studio, during which time he spent 2 years in the USA.
In 1958 he established his own design studio Jacob Jensen Design. It was from this company that he contributed to the development of design classics in the years to come. In 1966 he moved the studio to Hejlskov in Fjends.
In 1964 he joined Bang and Olufsen (B&O) and continued to contribute to B&O’s design line until 1987.
Through his work as a designer, JJ contributed to the design of many different types of consumer products: kitchen bowls, audio and hi-fi products, office chairs, telephones, watches, cars, diagnostic equipment, intercom equipment, glasses, kitchen appliances, windmills, solariums, loudspeakers, modems, houseboats, stoves, furniture.
Awards:
In 1949 after the apprenticeship was completed, he participated in the “Technical Society’s Schools Prize for Craftsmen”. His contribution – a desk chair – was awarded a bronze medal and a cash prize.
(awarded jointly to designer and clients): ID Prize (10 times 1968-96), “IF” Gute Industrie Form, Hannover (25 times 1966-99), “Gold Sim Prize” – Italy 1974+1977, “Top Form” – Italy 1974+1976, “Design Plus” – Germany 1988 +1990, “Antwerpen De Post Award” – Belgium 1973, “Japan Grand Prize” 1976, “Fortune Award” USA 1977, “IDSA Award” USA 1978, Thorvald Bindesbøll Medal 1983, International Design Award – Osaka 1985, “Good Design” Osaka 1986 + 1989, ID Klassiker Pris Kbh. 1990, “Norsk Design” 1990 + 1991, “Red Dot” -Essen 1993 + 1996, “Design Auswahl 1994, “Innovative Design no. 1” – Düsseldorf 1994 + 1995, “Der Feinschmecker”, Hamburg 1996.
Knight of Dannebrog 1996.
Sources:
Skive byarkiv: arkiv.dk | Perform your search
Jensen, Jacob: Different but not strange. Memoirs of a designer. Gyldendal 1987. Pages 73-80, 187-188.