The Collectors

One designer, three collectors. Recognized as the father of modern Danish design, Kaare Klint designed icons such as the Faaborg Chair and the Safari Chair. In all his work, he insisted on clear, logical design, clean lines, the best materials, and superb craftsmanship. Timeless by nature, his honest designs still resonate with succeeding generations and keep demanding space in modern interiors. We have asked three design collectors about their passion for Danish design and to designate their favorite Klint piece.

Hanni Gohr & Rune Glifbjerg

Model & Professional skateboarder and founder of skatepark architecture design company Glifberg – Lykke

Kaare Klint equals the combination of craftmanship and impeccable quality. The thought of the many hours that lie in each piece of furniture gives them soul and personality. Knowing that both design and production are made by craftsmen who really worship the craft and methods is always important to us. We both especially love our Addition sofas by Klint.

Our apartment is filled with durable materials such as brass, steel, oak and concrete. This creates a universe where materials of contrast meet. Cold and warm, hard and soft. For this reason, our choice of furniture intentionally complements the many contradictions. The beauty of the Addition sofas lies in the warm and soft expression, which is in perfect contrast to the angular and masculine furniture in our living room and ‘classic meets modern’ which was the main inspiration for our home.

@hannigohr @runeglifbjerg

Mikael Andersen

Owner of Galerie Mikael Andersen

I have been collecting Kaare Klint the last 35 years. The designs of Kaare Klint have always meant a lot to me due to the compositions and simplicity. My living rooms are full of Klint furniture. I started to collect before his ’revival’ which is why I have a special relationship to all my Klint furniture. One of my best experiences was 30 years ago. In the basement of Rud Rasmussen’s carpentry, I found an old, 12-people Cuba Mahogny Addition Table from the thirties. It needed a lot of repair but I bought it anyway. The table is made for the small Klint dining chairs, so I was extra thrilled a couple of years later when I found six chairs from the fifties in Niger-leather and with rivets.

To collect furniture is much like collecting art. You buy one thing at a time; when an opportunity seizes or when you can afford it. Living with Danish design and modern art have always been important to me, especially in the last 35 years of when I opened my gallery. This was also an opportunity to present modern art in classic surroundings and show it to collectors for them to see how the two elevates each other.

@galeriemikaelandersen

Helle Thygesen

Owner of e-boutique Helle Thygesen Art & Antiques

All of Kaare Klint’s designs somehow seem necessary. They add beauty and function in equal measure and I like how they often contain a classical element. Whether it be the Red Chair, the Mix Chair or any of his other designs, they are characterized by a refined, restrained elegance and precision that is impossible not to admire.

Although, my favorite Klint design, among many, is the Addition Sofa. To me, the Addition Sofa is perfectly proportioned, the backrest has just the perfect height, the legs the perfect lightness and the pleated leather becomes increasingly beautiful as the years go by. My father was an avid collector of this particular design, a passion that must have been passed down to him from his own parents. I recently saw a photo from my grandparents’ modernist villa, probably taken in the sixties, where several Kaare Klint Addition Sofas fill a part of the living room. Most of my Danish furniture designs are heirlooms, which also marks a continuity in my life and establishes a link to former generations in my family. It’s interesting to imagine what my parents or grandparents where thinking when they chose that particular piece of furniture and that they loved it enough to take care of it for so many years and pass it on to the next generation. Living with furniture that you have carefully chosen is a very intimate thing, it makes your home very much yours.