Thorvald Bindesbøll
Thorvald Bindesbøll (1846-1908) was a Danish architect and furniture designer who remains a characteristic personality within the history of Danish design. The work of Bindesbøll is characterized by his selective use of antique ornamentations and the influence of Japanese art, which he combined and developed into a style of his own. Bindesbøll often worked with darker woods along with expressive and light ornamentation and exclusive details inspired by the styles of Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque. His eclectic works stretches from furniture to lamps, embroidery, book craft (flyleaves, ornamentation and binding) and printing to hollow ware, cutlery and brooches in silver and other metals, and finally a small number of buildings.
During his lifetime Thorvald Bindesbøll also found great inspiration in his father architect Gottlieb Bindesbøll (1800-56) who was a pioneer in the Danish history of architecture. His works represented in many ways the shift from classicism to historicism, and for his own time M.G Bindesbøll appeared almost a modernist with his unpredictable works and his sober approach to architecture. The influence from his father is mainly seen in Thorvald Bindesbøll’s furniture drawn in the 1890es.
Besides the status of M.G. Bindesbøll Thorvald Bindesbøll never reached the fame of his father, however his imaginative and distinctive works remains unique and admirable. Though his diverse productio Bindesbøll's international fame is especially linked to his many ceramic works.