Kay Bojesen
Encyclopedia
Kay Bojesen was a Danish silversmith
and designer
who is best known for creating a wooden monkey which was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert museum
in London in the nineteen-fifties, and which today is considered a design classic.
Bojesen was born August 15, 1886 in Copenhagen
, Denmark
. He first trained to be a grocer, but in 1906 began working for Danish silversmith Georg Jensen
. The Danish Museum of Art & Design describes his early work as being in an Art Nouveau
style, likely due to Jensen's influence. His later work was simpler and more functional.
In 1922, Bojesen began designing wooden toys, typically about six to ten inches tall, with moveable limbs. These included a teak and limba monkey (1951), an oak elephant, a bear made of oak and maple, a rocking horse of beech, a parrot, a dachshund, and military figures including a drummer, a private with gun and a standard-bearer. In 1990, Danish design house Rosendahl
bought the rights to the toys.
In 1931, Bojesen was one of the key founders of the design exhibition gallery and shop called "Den Permanente" (The Permanent), a collective which aimed to exhibit the best of Danish design.
Bojesen also designed furniture for children, jewellery and housewares. A set of stainless steel cutlery he designed in 1938 won the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale of 1951, after which Bojesen named the set “Grand Prix.”
Bojesen did not make his own products. They were produced by manufacturers in Denmark, Holland, Sweden and the United States. A number of his toy designs were illegally copied by other companies.
Bojesen died August 28, 1958, at the age of 72. His shop in Copenhagen, which he founded in 1932, operated until the nineteen-eighties. Following his death it was continued by his widow Erna Bojesen until her death in 1986.
Bojesen was an honourary member of the National Association of Danish Arts and Crafts, and was recognized for his toys by the Danish National Committee of the OEMP (World Organisation for Early Childhood Education).
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...
and designer
Designer
A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...
who is best known for creating a wooden monkey which was exhibited at the Victoria and Albert museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in London in the nineteen-fifties, and which today is considered a design classic.
Bojesen was born August 15, 1886 in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. He first trained to be a grocer, but in 1906 began working for Danish silversmith Georg Jensen
Georg Jensen
Georg Arthur Jensen was a Danish silversmith.Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife grinder in the town of Raadvad just to the north of Copenhagen. Jensen began his training in goldsmithing at the age of 14 in Copenhagen...
. The Danish Museum of Art & Design describes his early work as being in an Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
style, likely due to Jensen's influence. His later work was simpler and more functional.
In 1922, Bojesen began designing wooden toys, typically about six to ten inches tall, with moveable limbs. These included a teak and limba monkey (1951), an oak elephant, a bear made of oak and maple, a rocking horse of beech, a parrot, a dachshund, and military figures including a drummer, a private with gun and a standard-bearer. In 1990, Danish design house Rosendahl
Rosendahl
Rosendahl is a municipality in the district of Coesfeld in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approx. north-west of Coesfeld....
bought the rights to the toys.
In 1931, Bojesen was one of the key founders of the design exhibition gallery and shop called "Den Permanente" (The Permanent), a collective which aimed to exhibit the best of Danish design.
Bojesen also designed furniture for children, jewellery and housewares. A set of stainless steel cutlery he designed in 1938 won the Grand Prix at the Milan Triennale of 1951, after which Bojesen named the set “Grand Prix.”
Bojesen did not make his own products. They were produced by manufacturers in Denmark, Holland, Sweden and the United States. A number of his toy designs were illegally copied by other companies.
Bojesen died August 28, 1958, at the age of 72. His shop in Copenhagen, which he founded in 1932, operated until the nineteen-eighties. Following his death it was continued by his widow Erna Bojesen until her death in 1986.
Bojesen was an honourary member of the National Association of Danish Arts and Crafts, and was recognized for his toys by the Danish National Committee of the OEMP (World Organisation for Early Childhood Education).