Jacob Jensen (1926-2015) was a Danish industrial designer (the first in the country to have graduated in the subject).
He had a long-term relationship designing audio equipment for Bang & Olufsen for over a quarter of a century. Included in his output of almost 250 different designs is the record player Beogram 4000, portable radio Beolit 400, sound systems BeoMaster 500 and BeoMaster 1900 and the company’s first headphones, the U70.
He designed a range of products for other companies; from furniture to watches, telephones to kettles. He even created the popular Margrethe melamine bowls for Rosti (named after Queen Margrethe of Denmark). Our favourites though, are his little wooden figures – Vikings, Eskimos and… aliens! They can retail for hundreds of pounds!
In my view, constructing a fountain pen, writing a poem, producing a play or designing a locomotive, all demand the same components, the same ingredients: perspective, creativity, new ideas, understanding and first and foremost, the ability to rework, almost infinitely, over and over. That ‘over and over’ is for me the cruellest torture.
The only way I can work is to make 30-40 models before I find the right one. The question is, when do you find the right one? My method is, when I have reached a point where I think, ‘O.K., that’s it, there it is’, I put the model on a table in the living room, illuminate it, and otherwise spend the evening as usual, and go to bed. The next morning I go in and look at it, knowing with 100 percent certainty that I have 6-7 seconds to see and decide whether it’s right or wrong. If I look at it longer, I automatically compensate. ‘Oh, it’s not too high,’ and, ‘It’s not so bad.’ There are only those 6-7 seconds; then I make some notes as to what’s wrong. Finished. After breakfast, I make the changes. That’s the only way I know. Jacob Jensen
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