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Jakob Jørgensen - Artists + Designers - Hostler Burrows

Artist and designer Jakob Jørgensen takes a hands-on approach to material investigation, both in his sculptural and industrial design practices. Through his manipulation of forms that are not easily pliable, he explores concepts of resistance, engaging in a deeply personal and all-encompassing process of give and take with the medium to reveal its essence.

While beginning his career trained in painting and stone carving, Jørgensen has become well established as a designer, working in partnership with Line Depping to create functional pieces primarily in wood. His goal with any material is to investigate the full breadth of possibilities it offers, allowing him to arrive at his own unique synthesis of matter and idea. Recently, he has turned his focus to manipulating steel pipe as a medium for sculpture. In her essay “Adaptive Growth,” Rebekah Frank writes of Jørgensen, “His current sculptural exploration begins with lengths of low carbon steel pipe, a material that is the backbone of industrial applications. Within manufacturing, urban planning, and agriculture, these pipes are known for their durability against stress, fatigue, and breakage. Taken out of context, they are recognizable as an industrial material, but under the pressure Jørgensen applies through torch and tooling, they transform into monolithic columns, inviting closer inspection and a rethinking of the medium.”

Jakob Jørgensen - Artists + Designers - Hostler Burrows

Photography by Dorte Krogh

Jørgensen was born in 1977 in Nyborg, Denmark. He studied fine art in his early twenties, attending The New Art School, Odense, Denmark and Guildhall School of Fine Arts in London, as well as completing an apprenticeship with Studio Palla in Carrara, Italy. In 2008, he graduated from the Royal Danish Academy for Design, and went on to found a successful design studio. As his interest in large scale steel sculpture developed, he submitted a proposal to the Danish National Workshop in 2017, and was granted access to their vast metalworking facilities. He continued his exploration of the medium, building a dedicated studio tailored to working with steel pipe on the island of Bornholm in 2020. Jørgensen’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions including at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, France; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark; Designmuseum, Copenhagen, Denmark; and the 21st Century Museum, Kanazawa, Japan. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the Finn Juhl Prize, the Bodum Design Award, and the IFDA Goldleaf Award.

CV

JAKOB JØRGENSEN
b. 1977, Denmark

EDUCATION
2008    Danish School of Design, Department of Furniture and Space, Copenhagen, Denmark
2001    Scandinavian Design College, Randers, Denmark
1999    Apprenticeship at Studio Palla, Pietrasanta, Carrara, Italy
1998    Guildhall, School of Fine Arts, London, United Kingdom
1996    The New Art School, Odense, Denmark

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023    Take Root, HB381, New York, NY
2018    Totem, Galerie Maria Wettergren, Paris, France

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023    Made: Sølvgade 19, Copenhagen, Denmark
2022    Matter at Hand: Ten Artists in Denmark, Hostler Burrows, Los Angeles, CA
            Metalworks: Designing & Making, Konschthal Esch, Alzette, Luxembourg
2021    Matter at Hand: Ten Artists in Denmark, Hostler Burrows, New York, NY
2020    Spring Exhibition, Charlottenborg, Denmark
2019    Japan tur/retur, Exhibition of Oryoki Bowls designed with Line Depping, A. Petersen Collection & Craft Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018    Halstrøm, Odgaard, Depping, Jørgensen, A. Petersen Collection & Craft Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017    Everyday Life, 21st Century Museum, Kanazawa, Japan
            Side by Side – Outside, SE17, Designmuseum in collaboration with Snedkernes Afterårsudstilling, Copenhagen, Denmark
2016    Pitch Black, SE16, Snedkernes Afterårsudstilling, Copenhagen, Denmark
2015    Mindcraft 15, San Simpliciano Cloister, Milan, Italy
            Mindcraft 15, Designmuseum, Copenhagen, Denmark
2014    Barca, Designmuseum, Copenhagen, Denmark
            Dwell On Design, 82Mercer, New York, NY
            Mindcraft 14, Ventura Lambrate, Milan, Italy
            Furniture Set in a Textile Universe, SE 14, Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair, Stockholm, Sweden

2013    Storage, SE13, Designmuseum, Copenhagen, Denmark
2012    Generation Design, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, France
            Ampersand House, Brussels, Belgium
            Mindcraft 12, Ventura Lambrate, Milan, Italy
2011    My 30th Birthday, SE11, Designmuseum, Copenhagen, Denmark
            Bodum Design Award, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark
            Wood Couture, Galerie Maria Wettergren, Paris, France
            IFDA, Asahikawa Furniture Center, Japan
2010    Whiteout, SE10, Snedkernes Afterårsudstilling, Copenhagen, Denmark
            Designers Investigating, Øksenehallen, Copenhagen, Denmark
            Uncovered, Milan Furniture Fair, Italy
            Greenhouse, Stockholm Furniture Fair, Sweden
2009    Skud på Stammen, Copenhagen Technical School, Denmark
            A Chair for Negotiation, SE9, Snedkernes Afterårsudstilling, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008    Architecture that Moves, The Academy of Fine Arts’ School of Architecture, Copenhagen, Denmark
            Living Design Center Ozone, Tokyo, Japan
            Graduate Exhibition, The Danish School of Design, Copenhagen, Denmark

AWARDS & GRANTS
2015    Danish Arts Council Grant
2015    Finn Juhl Prize
2012    Wallpaper Design Awards
2011    Bodum Design Award
2008    IFDA Japan, Goldleaf Award 

COLLECTIONS
Danish Arts Foundation, Denmark
A. Petersen, Copenhagen, Denmark

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