Povl B. Eskildsen

Background

Povl B. Eskildsen is a Danish designer who believes that form and function should go together in design. He qualified as an architect in 1986 and has worked as an independent designer since then, creating designs for Danish and international companies.

He grew up with one foot in a furniture factory that produced teak designs, and as a young man he created furniture pieces and prototypes through trial and error.

Signature Style

Form and materials are paramount for him, and so are the ways in which people use furniture in everyday life. Charles Rennie Mackintosh's graphic, two-dimensional sketches, which he leafed through at the Glasgow School of Art, inspired his three-dimensional work, and Hans J. Wegner and Børge Mogensen have also been influential. For his Tradition garden system, durability and comfort in all weather were the brief, met with careful joinery such as finger joints and dado joints.

Notable Works

His designs include the Tradition modular garden system imagined in 2015, with its pouf, corner, end and spacer modules, lounge chair and tables, and the Riviera Lounge and Riviera Sunbed. The Riviera Lounge is made of 100% FSC-certified teak with stainless steel fittings and can serve as a lounge chair and table, a sofa or a sunbed.

Legacy

Tradition began in aluminium and was later reshaped in wood with adjusted dimensions and different techniques, an example of his focus on how furniture is lived with. Tradition looks to the Danish design tradition, and Eskildsen has seen how the use of outdoor furniture differs across countries, cultures and time.