Forty years ago, New York
entrepreneur/engineer Ted Nierenberg and his wife Martha traveled to
Denmark, and at Copenhagen's Kundstanvaark Museum saw a hand-forged
fork, spoon and knife with teakwood handles that had won a design
competition for 35-year-old Jens Quistgaard. Elegant and pure, the
design combined two natural materials in a graceful manner - a simple
concept for the Nineties, but revolutionary for the Fifties.
Quistgaard told Nierenberg that his designs were too difficult to
manufacture and no one wanted to tackle them. But Nierenberg's search
led him to manufacturing sources he knew could execute such pieces; he
convinced Quistgaard that they had to try. The pattern was Fjord. The
company was Dansk. And the energy born of the fusion of Nierenberg's
marketing genius and Quistgaard's brilliant creativity ignited a whole
new industry. "Tabletop" had been redefined.
Nierenberg knew nothing of retailing, but he went out on the road to
sell Fjord. The first 60 stores he visited placed orders. Fjord went
"platinum" and for 30 years was in the Dansk product line. It was
discontinued in 1984 when it could no longer be manufactured maintaining
Dansk's quality standard at an affordable price. When it was retired,
Fjord sold for $100 a place setting.
Dansk proceeded to grow with the unique idea that every object needed
for the top of the table could be beautiful as well as useful. Many of
his Dansk designs found their way to permanent collections of the Louvre,
the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Smithsonian Institution.
Introductions into the product line had a "safe" feel for the
consumer because the designs could be mixed and matched. Dansk was and
still is the only company that designs and markets a fully coordinated
tabletop product line. The Dansk approach became a lifestyle choice.
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