Jørgen Ditzel

Background

Jørgen Ditzel (18 April 1921 in Frederiksberg - 12 April 1961 in Copenhagen) was a Danish designer of furniture, jewellery, textiles and household objects. Danish Wikipedia says he trained as an upholsterer in Roskilde and as a furniture architect at the Kunsthåndværkerskolen (School of Arts and Crafts) in Copenhagen, finishing in 1944. There he met Nanna Hauberg; the couple married in 1946 and ran a joint design studio until his death.

Signature Style

The sources describe his work almost entirely as one half of the partnership with Nanna Ditzel, whose studio says that she and Jørgen worked on every project together. Carl Hansen & Søn writes that Jørgen's background in upholstery influenced the couple's use of fabrics in new colours and patterns, and describes their furniture as organic, body-based and experimental, with soft silhouettes that broke with the functionalist tradition of the 1950s.

Notable Works

• Basket Club Chair, the couple's first rattan chair (1950 on Nanna Ditzel Design's timeline)
• Vita Sofa, dated 1951 by Danish Wikipedia and 1952 by Carl Hansen & Søn, who produce it as ND52
• Children's high chair (1955), today produced by Carl Hansen & Søn as ND54
• ND55 Coffee Table and ND550F Footstool, both dated 1955 by Carl Hansen & Søn
• Hanging Egg chair (1959)

Legacy

Together with Nanna Ditzel he received silver medals at the Milan Triennale of 1951, 1954 and 1957, a gold medal in 1960 and the Lunning Prize in 1956. He died in 1961, a few days before his 40th birthday, and Nanna Ditzel continued their work alone. The high chair is part of the Danish Culture Canon, according to Carl Hansen & Søn.