Kaare Klint

Lifetime

1888–1954

Country

Denmark

Kaare Klint was born in 1888 in Frederiksberg (Copenhagen), the son of architect P.V. Jensen-Klint. He trained in cabinetmaking, at a technical school, at J. Møller-Jensen's furniture school and at the Artists' Studio Schools run by Johan Rohde. He ran his own office from 1920, and in 1921 became the first lecturer in furniture design at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen, where he founded the department of furniture and space. After his father's death in 1930, he completed the construction of Copenhagen's Grundtvigskirken, completed in 1940.

His best-known designs include the Faaborg Chair from 1914, designed together with Carl Petersen for Faaborg Museum and manufactured by Rud. Rasmussen (today by Carl Hansen & Son). In 1933, the Safari Chair for Carl Hansen & Co. and the Red Chair for Rud. Rasmussen were created, followed in 1936 by the Church Chair for Fritz Hansen Eftf. Klint is sometimes called the father of modern Danish furniture design; his influence can be seen in the work of Poul Kjærholm and Børge Mogensen.

In 1949 he received the title of Honorary Royal Designer for Industry, and in 1954 the C.F. Hansen Medal. His work is held, among others, in the collections of Cooper-Hewitt, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Designmuseum Danmark, Faaborg Museum and the Israel Museum. He died in Copenhagen in 1954.