Jens Quistgaard documentary film

"The designer Jens Quistgaard - A saucepan for my wife" is a new documentary film about Danish designer Jens Quistgaard (1919-2008) who from the mid-1950s introduced Danish Design and Scandinavian Modern in the USA.

Many American's are familiar with Quistgaard's designs, but few have met the man behind. For the first time in this filmed portrait, the designer invites a camera into his own universe. Shooting was carried out over a period of three years, ending only a few months before his death in 2008 at nearly 89. We follow Quistgaard at close range in his unique home; watch him in action at his working table; and we hear him talk of his life, his work and what drives him as a designer.

Casserole "Kobenstyle", enamel on steel, Dansk Designs 1955

In the film he tells the story of his first meeting with the recently deceased, successful American businessman, Ted Nierenberg, who one day in 1954 appears at his studio in Copenhagen. It is a meeting of two personalities, each talented within his own field, and it marks the birth of the company Dansk Designs, where for decades, as chief designer, Quistgaard charted the course with his design lines for table and kitchen - everything from flatware, saucepans and pitchers to glassware, trays, bowls and pepper mills of teak and exotic woods. The idea was to create a sense of aesthetic and functional unity for all objects we place on the table; and Quistgaard's designs put a new and practical stamp on kitchens and tables in many American homes.

Sugar bowls "Smooth Flamestone", Dansk Designs C. 1964

The film shows examples of the breadth and range of his output and includes unique 16 mm clips from the 50s and early 60s from his exhibitions and his architecture in the USA, culminating in the the large and unique house at Armonk north of New York City that he designs for his partner, Ted Nierenberg. Quistgaard designs everything for this house: door handles, bath tubs, newel stair, windows and roof. Completed in 1961, the house stands as a unique testimony to Quistgaard's ideal of architectural unity. Personally he is deeply rooted in the old traditions of craftsmanship, the ship-building of the Vikings, the temples of the Incas, the pottery of the peasants as well as the fashioning of tools, weapons and clothing among Eskimos, American Indians and Bedouins. Quistgaard acknowledges his debt to tradition by translating it into a modern design language with a prominent personal stamp.

Pepper mills in teak, wenge, cocobolo and mutenye. Dansk Designs 1956-61

Today, his best things are icons, and Quistgaard has become a cult figure for younger generations. His designs from the 1950s and 1960s are prized by collectors all around the world, and after his death a number of his designs have once again been put into production.

Pitchers "Kobenstyle, enamel on steel, Dansk Designs 1955

Stig Guldberg is an Associate Professor at Metropolitan University College in Denmark. His educational background is in the History of Ideas, Literature and Design, and he has been National Adviser for the Danish Ministry of Education in the areas of Art and Design for many years. The documentary on Jens Quistgaard marks Stig Guldberg's debut as a film director.

The documentary film by Stig Guldberg is now available on DVD for sale on Amazon.