Nanna Ditzel

Background

Nanna Ditzel (née Hauberg, 1923-2005) was a Danish designer born in Copenhagen. She trained as a carpenter at Richards Skole, studied at Copenhagen's School of Arts and Crafts, and graduated in furniture design in 1946, the year she married her fellow student Jørgen Ditzel (1921-1961) and set up a design studio with him. After his death she continued on her own, lived in London from 1968 and returned to Copenhagen in 1987, where she opened a studio in her own name.

Signature Style

Her portfolio covers furniture, jewellery, textiles and homeware. Her own studio says materials and techniques were challenged throughout her life and that her love of organic forms often led to an avant-garde design language; early on she worked in foam rubber, later in polyester and fibreglass, and also in wicker, laminated wood and silver.

Notable Works

• Children's high chair with Jørgen Ditzel, dated 1954 by Carl Hansen & Søn and 1955 on her studio's timeline
• Hanging Egg chair, 1959
• Hallingdal upholstery fabric, 1964-65
• Bench for Two (1989) and the Trinidad chair (1993) for Fredericia
• Jewellery for Georg Jensen

Legacy

She and Jørgen received the Lunning Prize in 1956. She was made a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1995, and Fredericia calls her its second house designer after Børge Mogensen. Her three daughters have taken over her life's work.