As we approach a new century, there is every reason to have high expectations for the continued development of Danish furniture design. Never before has so much quality furniture been manufactured, and young, new designers are making their mark. People like the designer Troels Grum-Schwensen, Kasper Salto, Henrik Tengler, Hans Sandgren Jacobsen, Tom Srepp, Pelikan Design, Komplot Design and various other groups of designers.  The most interesting feature of the development of furniture design from 1980 to the present day is that it essentially followed its own path, more or less uninfluenced by changing styles: the postmodernism, high-tech, neoclassic of the 1980’s, the rediscovery of art deco at the beginning of the 1990’s together with neo-functionalism and the renewed interest for the design of the 1960’s-all of these are styles which have been ostentatiously introduced (and reintroduced) at the great furniture fairs in Cologne and Milan since 1980, and nearly all have disappeared again. Danish furniture designers and furniture manufacturers however, have not felt tempted to follow these trends. This is not out of fear but rather out of a deep-rooted unwillingness to be dictated to by whimsical trends which do not add anything new to furniture design. Instead, they have continued to develop and refine Scandinavian modernism which is characterised by its great care for detail and the manufacturing process, respect for the human anatomy, thorough analyses of requirements and use, aesthetics and considerations about form and function and rational production. This is a work approach which has attracted wide international attention in the course of the last five to six years, and one which many international designers have tried to copy, as was the case with the Danish furniture designs of “the Golden Age” 30-40 years ago.It is this same work approach which will probably guarantee the leading position of Danish furniture design for many years to come: innovation via tradition. 

Given the fact that the western concept of art from the end of the 18th century moved towards the ever-increasing independence of artistic expression, part of the task of modern art became to reassemble what had been dismantled. The boundary between fine and mass culture narrowed.Visual art, architecture and applied art were to be seen as aspects of a common dream; the ideal of powerful, modern expression. The beginning of the 20th century saw the introduction of the term “Gesamtkunstwerk”. A house was no longer a frame around random content. Buildings, furniture design, decorative art and interior design generally were to support the integral whole, which became greater than the sum of its inpidual parts.

From the 1920’s and 30’s, the dominant German Bauhaus School greatly influenced design in Europe and America. Architect and School Director, Walter Gropius, expressed his intentions in the following way:”Our ultimate goal was the compound yet inpisible work of art, the unique building where the old boundary between the monumental and decorative elements vanished forever”.

In Denmark, architects led by Arne Jacobsen, among others, were extremely stimulated by this way of thinking. Here lay the keystone to the tradition of interrelationship between architecture and interior design, which to this day remains an important hallmark of Danish architects and designers. Since 1971,the architectural firm of Dissing+Weitling A/S has continued to run and develop Arne Jacobsen’s architect business, with employees in Denmark and around the world. The depth in Dissing+Weitling’s work is exceptional but this also says something characteristic about the Danish approach. Here we find both a sense of wholeness as well as an attention to detail, and especially, the challenge of getting both elements to form a synthesis. Nothing is too small, let alone irrelevant to warrant care and attention.  

In addition to architectural buildings, Dissing+Weitling also carry out work in the fields of furniture, lighting design, and medico-technical equipment. In all events, it is an attempt to merge the various parameters such as form, function, construction, materials and color to form a balanced expression whose hallmark is a strong visual identity, which is the leitmotif of the design process: A clarity and purity which has timeless and universal qualities. In this regard, Dissing+Weitling have done a supreme job of carrying on the legacy of Arne Jacobsen.Whereas at the close of this century, we have witnessed the noisier, mishmash of persity of international design reflecting the spirit of the times, here in Denmark-and the Nordic countries-the modernistic method and approach has prevailed. Design has been carried forward with moderation and variations based on a tighter minimalism, focusing on the elements and dynamics of the inpidual form, as well as a pronounced sensitivity for materials. There are many examples of how this subtle dialogue between space, furniture and interior design have found powerful expression; designs which break up and imprint a different rhythm on the space and the way in which fine contrasts such as the lineatity of the room are juxtaposed by the curvature of the reception area-a common, repeated theme in many interiors.  北欧家具设计的审美特征英文文献和中文翻译(5):http://www.youerw.com/fanyi/lunwen_51826.html