Jacob Jensen Design – an internationally renowned design studio
Every generation has its pioneers – people whose groundbreaking innovations change our view of the world and the way we see things. Jacob Jensen was one of them.
He was born in 1926 in Vesterbro, a district of Copenhagen in Denmark. After a demanding four-year apprenticeship as an upholsterer in his father's business, he spent three years at the School of Applied Art. He then joined the design studio of the industrial designer Sigvard Bernadotte – brother of Queen Ingrid – and his partner Acton Bjørn. Just three years later, in 1954, Jensen became head of the studio at "Bernadotte & Bjørn".
In 1958, Jacob Jensen founded his own successful and highly regarded design studio. From 1963, he worked there for clients including Bang & Olufsen, for whom he designed well-known hi-fi components such as the Beogram 4000 turntable (1972), the Beolit 400 portable radio (1971), the Beomaster 1200 receiver (1970) and the Beovox 2500 speakers (1967).
The boy from Copenhagen became a designer of international renown who, as the New York Times wrote in 1978 on the occasion of the MoMA exhibition "Bang & Olufsen – Design for Sound by Jacob Jensen", deserved "a place among the great industrial designers of the 20th century".
A growing family business since 1958
Jensen's design studio has also grown into a family business, run by his son Timothy since 1990. Alongside designs for the company's own brand, such as the T3 telephone (1995), the weather station with plug-in components (1999) and the Linear and Symbolic jewellery collections (2002), Jacob Jensen also carries out work for international companies such as Citroën, Gaggenau and Rodenstock.
Numerous Jacob Jensen designs have won international design awards. Many works can also be found in renowned museums, such as the Museum of Decorative Art in Copenhagen and the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the USA.
