The Series 7 chair was once a symbol of the sexual revolution. After this piece of the interior became a full-fledged participant in the scandalous erotic photoshoot of the model and spy Christine Keeler, its sales soared to heaven. And the designer of this sexual masterpiece - Arne Jacobson - later became the founder of the Danish functionalism style.
Arne Jacobsen is a find for a spy
In the '60s, Britain was shaken by a loud spy story. The fact that the British Secretary of War John Profiumo for a long time met with a girl on call Christine Keeler. And sometimes, so he reveals himself to her in bed, that in the meantime will tell about the strategic plans of his country. And the girl will later tell them to her beloved - Soviet spy Evgeny Ivanov, who worked under the cover of a military attache at the British embassy.
The result of this story was that Profumo resigned and Christine spent nine months in prison. And after the release of Keeler from places not so remote, the filmmakers had the idea to make a film about the case of Profjumo, as dubbed the story of the general public.
But to begin with, the famous photographer Lewis Morley arranged a photoshoot dedicated to the release of the future picture on wide screens. And in it, as the reader has already understood, was used Arne Jacobsen's chair. After this story, interest in Jacobsen, who already enjoyed great authority among designers without this episode, has increased many times.
To such an extent that Arne Jacobsen was offered cooperation by Stanley Kubrick himself, who at the time was making his film "Space Odyssey". And he, of course, agreed.
However, it would be a mistake to think that Arne Jacobsen came out of the shadows only because of this story. He is a great designer who has left his mark in this sphere. You could say that he deserved his right to remain in the profession.
The house of dreams
By the way, at first, Jacobsen was a thorough architect. But before connecting his life with the music frozen in stone, Arne (just like the great Gatsby) had time to be a sailor on the ship, to work as a bricklayer and change other professions. In 1929 Arne Jacobsen became the winner of the Danish Architects Association competition and was commissioned to build the House of the Future at an exhibition in the Copenhagen Forum. And Arne, of course, coped with the task. The mansion of his dreams, made of glass and concrete, had a spiral shape and a flat roof. Jacobsen also cautiously provided for a helipad on the roof and a boathouse with a yacht. It was a very bold design experiment for that time. Arne Jacobsen later established his own office and designed a number of architectural projects, such as the Bellavista beach complex, the town hall building.
In 1943 Denmark was occupied by the Nazis, who intended to destroy all Danish Jews by sending them to death camps. But under the cover of the night, the Danes transported all the Jews to Sweden. So Arne managed to escape. It was true that he was forbidden to engage in architecture, but he switched his attention to the design of wallpaper. Two years later, Arne Jacobsen was able to return to his homeland and re-enter architecture. And, he was engaged not only in designing the external appearance of the building, but also the interior decoration of the room: the design of walls and ceilings, textiles and selection of furniture ... Many people just associate Jacobsen's name with the design of furniture, in particular, chairs.
More than 12 chairs by Arne Jacobsen
His most famous chair Ant, shaped like an ant silhouette, has been in mass production since the 50s. It was made of molded plywood.
Another work of the designer is Arne Jacobsen's chair - Egg Chair, made of fiberglass reinforced plastic. The designer developed a lever for it, which allowed us to adjust the chair for better comfort.
Today, all of Arne Jacobsen's chairs, who passed away in 1971, are kept in room 606 of the Radisson Blue Royal Hotel in Denmark. This place is a kind of museum of his memory.