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Arne Jacobsen & Verner Overgaard
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Our story
It’s the story of how architect Arne Jacobsen
and manufacturer Verner Overgaard joined
forces to create something original,
beautiful and timeless.
An uncompromising vision
Working in the 1950s and 60s, leading
Danish architect Arne Jacobsen epitomised
the Danish Modern style, blending elegant
functionalism with organic forms. He
designed St Catherine’s College, Oxford
and the National Bank of Denmark,
among other influential buildings.
However, his vision did not end with the
completion of a building. He often
designed every element of its furniture
and fittings, in order to achieve a totally
integrated space – classical in its sense
of proportion and attention to detail, but
appropriate to the modern world.
Many of Jacobsen’s furniture designs,
including the ‘Ant’ chair from 1952 and
the ‘Egg’ chair designed for the Radisson
SAS Hotel in Copenhagen, are regarded
as classics.
Partners in design
Verner Overgaard, owner of longestablished
and innovative manufacturer
Vola, was looking for a designer who could
realise his idea for a revolutionary new
product: a tap with a wall-mounted mixer
whose mechanical parts were concealed
within the wall, leaving only the handle
and spout visible.
When Arne Jacobsen came to his
attention through his award-winning Bank
of Denmark project, Overgaard knew
he’d found a partner as committed to
modernist form and function as himself.
For his part, Jacobsen immediately saw
the new product’s potential and its
relevance to his own design ethic.
International recognition
The Vola design as we know it today
first went into production in 1968. It won
international acclaim and design
awards from the Museum of Modern Art
in New York, the Kunstgewerbemuseum
Cologne and the Cincinatti Art Museum,
among others.
A modern classic
Of course, technology moves on. In more
than 35 years of production, Vola’s
technical specifications have changed
dramatically to embrace innovation and
meet changing needs. But Arne Jacobsen’s
design has stood the test of time, and
remains one of our most sought-after
ranges worldwide.