Taking us into the ICE age

LIFESTYLE FURNITURE: The designer Kasper Salto is on his way to gaining iconic status at Denmark’s best known furniture factory Fritz Hansen, which makes most of the furniture by the world-famous Danish designer Arne Jacobsen.

When 37 year old Kasper Salto started his apprenticeship as a cabinet maker 20 years ago, he became aware that Denmark had produced many of the world’s best furniture designers through most of the last century. Arne Jacobsen, Hans J. Wegner, Børge Mogensen, Poul Kærholm, Poul M. Volther, to mention just a few. And here he was in a small furniture workshop, planing and joining.

The discovery of being a small part of a long tradition initiated Kasper Salto. He learnt the craft, but the thought of producing machine made furniture the rest of his life made him send an application to a design school. He wanted to make furniture that people could relate to. And he makes no secret of the fact that the great names attracted him.

“What fun it would be to get closer to the great names,” he describes his thoughts from that time.

He achieved it too. Today Kasper Salto is one of the most prominent among the many young designers who help keep the Danish furniture industry among the international leaders. Recently he added Denmark’s most prestigious award, Knud V. Engelhardt’s Commemorative Prize, to his CV which is already glittering with accolades. Le Grand Prix du Design in France, The Danish Furniture Prize, The Cabinetmaker Prize, The ID Prize, The G Prize in Japan, as well as participation in countless exhibitions throughout the world. Kasper Salto has indeed joined the league of masters – and not just in regard to prizes.

A few years ago, when the furniture company Fritz Hansen decided to produce the chair of the future, it was Kasper Salto’s ICE which was preferred. ICE is a multi-functional stacking chair where functionality and quality stand at the core of the design. At the same time, ICE is a simple and innovative solution to two very different sets of needs. The chair is made in a combination of aluminium and man-made material. It is available with or without aluminium arms and with optional linking devices. Seat and back in flexible man-made material are soft and very comfortable, and the high level of comfort makes the chair equally suitable as a conference, meeting or side chair. The frame is satin finished aluminium making the chair very light and easy to move around. The robust quality of the construction also makes ICE suitable for outdoor seating in cafes and restaurants.

Fritz Hansen makes the undisputed classic among chairs, Arne Jacobsen’s Series 7, or as it is known abroad, The Butterfly Chair. Series 7 sees its 50th anniversary this year. In those 50 years, Fritz Hansen has made more than 5 million copies of the chair.

“Kasper Salto’s ICE has all the elements that could make it a future classic like Arne Jacobsen’s chairs,” says Jan Helleskov, international PR manager at Fritz Hansen. “We have great expectations of it. It has everything that we consider to be our core values: Original, Timeless, Purity and Sculptural.”

ICE was introduced in 2002, and in the first year alone more than 10,000 of the indoor and outdoor versions were sold; sales are constantly increasing. Today, the chair is the icon of Fritz Hansen’s modern design range, which is known as the Republic of Fritz Hansen. Kasper Salto’s wife, Rikke Ladegaard, has designed the fabric “Blitz” in 28 colours for Kvadrat A/S which has made it into a success as an upholstered conference chair. 

And now it will also be launched as a bar chair.

“It is the joy of making something with my hands which constantly takes me forward,” says Kasper Salto. “I get deep satisfaction by experimenting and seeing things take shape. But it is never design for design’s sake. A chair is the tool of the body and must function accordingly. Functionality and comfort come first. Then aesthetics follow. The sublime is achieved when the two form a synthesis.”

Kasper Salto’s mother is a known artist and his father was a prominent architect. He recognises the creative genes, but rejects the claim that he is an artist.

“Art is free whereas design is assigned to functionality,” he says. “If a designer gives the chair’s sculptural virtues power over functionality, then the designer should become an artist.”