Renovation is S-L-O-W. At least it is at my house. My father-in-law told me over the Easter weekend that I could have built a new house by now. (sigh) Of course he was joking and he loves to tease me because I’m a perfectionist. I enjoy his teasing… it’s love in the most fun way! Here’s the thing, though…. slow is not really a good thing in the blogging world. But who cares, right! So lets just say screw the renovation talk for now and lets talk about a designer we love – Jens Risom.

Jens Risom, who designed the first Knoll chair in 1941, received his education in Denmark at the Krebs’ School, St. Anne Vester School, University of Copenhagen and Copenhagen’s Kunståndvaerkerskolen. He worked as a designer of furniture and interiors in the Copenhagen office of architect Ernst Kuhn. After moving to the United States, he became the design director of Dan Cooper in New York and also designed for Georg Jensen. Many of Risom’s furniture designs are considered modern classics, and his furniture is on display at the Museum of Modern Art, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and the Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum.  His beautiful designs are still produced today by Knoll.

It is with such appreciation that we have this house and even more incredible that we’ve been able to furnish it with some really amazing pieces that we’ve collected over the years. I don’t think mid-century modern homes look right without a decent amount of the “right” stuff. A lazy boy, overstuff rocker, and flowered wallpaper would not look right in a house like this. (and I have nothing against either of those in the right house) But I also know that finding designer modern furniture is almost a thing of the past. It’s so expensive to buy and the vintage stuff is more and more difficult to find at a decent price.  We’ve been lucky… because this isn’t a passing fad for us. We’ve been collecting for almost 20 years and we’re super proud to have every single piece.

I randomly found this picture online a few weeks ago and I saved it. It made me think about the chair we have and the story behind acquiring it.

My husband was born and raised in a tiny town about 20 miles from where we currently live. We’re talking … it takes maybe 5 minutes to drive through it.   Yes, it’s amazing he turned out to be who he is.  Weird things happen.  Anyway, the hospital he was born in over the years ceased to exist and the building just sat there and began to deteriorate.  They experienced a pretty bad flood and … well, you get the picture… it had to be demolished.

At that point we were serious “hunters” and didn’t miss an opportunity to go into any building or estate sale.  Richie heard about the hospital and hauled ass to go through the building.  I’m not sure if he even paid for it.  I don’t think he did.  It was one of those “take it before it gets trashed” situations.   There it was… a Jens Risom side chair.  The webbing was all torn up and the chair legs sat it flood water for a long time.  You can see the bottoms of them still have water stains. We sanded the chair as much as we could but then decided we liked the stains and the whole story behind it.  We kept them.

I can’t even remember what color the webbing was, but it had to be replaced.  We ordered new webbing for the Risom chairs online from Knoll.  There’s many colors to choose from and it was really easy to tack it all back together.  (pull tight!)
So it now sits in a small corner of our guest bedroom.  It’s super comfy, very compact, and I think it’s beautiful.  Not to mention that it came out of the hospital that my husband was born in.  Priceless! They still produce this chair and I’ve found it online for between $500-$600. (OMG!… thank you flooded hospital and dumpster diving husband!)

RIchie is always looking out for one of the armless side chairs (see top pix).  He always has one marked on ebay but never takes the plunge.  I think he’s always hoping that “he’ll find one and score big” one day.  He’s been pretty lucky so far.  Who knows.

DWR and then Dwell Magazine both featured Risom and I really enjoyed their video.  I loved hearing the correct pronunciation of his name.  I always think I have those danish cats names right and I never do.  HA!

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/39894715 w=400&h=225]

So if you ever find any of his designs, hold on to it… or send me an email. (yes, I’m serious) And don’t ever pass up a chance to go through the old hospital that you were born in. You never know what you might find.