Jorgen Kastholm, lounge chair Skater for Kill International

JORGEN KASTHOLM (Denmark, 1931 - 2007) for Kill International.
A pair of rare Skater lounge chairs. Designed in 1968.
Steel frame and original patinated black leather.
Signs of wear typical of their age, scratches on one of the seats.
Manufactured by Kill International.
Measurements: 70 x 66 x 70 cm. 37 cm (seat height).

Although Kastholm's work is often associated with Preben Fabricius, the "Skater Chair" (model JK 710) was an individual design by Jørgen Kastholm. The chair sits on a chrome-plated steel (or sometimes stainless steel) base that is usually a "skate" or "sled" type structure (hence the name "Skater"), or a base of four thin, geometric legs that give it a light, floating appearance. It was produced by manufacturers such as Kill International (Germany) in its origins, and later by Lange Production (Denmark), which has reissued it.

Danish architect and designer Jørgen Kastholm began his training as a blacksmith, but soon left to pursue furniture design. He attended the Copenhagen School of Interior Design, where he was taught by Finn Juhl. There he also met cabinetmaker Preben Fabricius, who would later become his partner. The two shared a common vision of furniture design, based on minimalism and quality and inspired by the creations of Charles Eames and Mies van der Rohe. Their quest was to achieve an ideal that, by its simplicity, would be timeless. In 1961 they set up a studio together in Gentofte, and four years later they presented their first designs at the Federicia furniture fair, where they attracted the attention of the German furniture manufacturer Alfred Kill. The latter offered them a lucrative contract that allowed them to work freely, so Kastholm and Fabricius moved to Stuttgart with their first designs to start production in Kill's factory. Shortly thereafter, they made the international breakthrough at the 1966 Cologne trade fair, where they exhibited a complete series of home and office furniture, developed from ten of their original designs. Their minimalist creations, at once attractive and comfortable, were generally steel and leather furniture. The two creators worked together between 1961 and 1968, a seven-year period in which they produced numerous designs now considered classics, such as the Tulip Chair FK 6725, the Grasshopper FK 87 and the Scimitar. Also during this period, their furniture was part of important international exhibitions, held in such prominent centers as the MOMA in New York (1967) or the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris (1967). Today, designs by Kastholm and Fabricius can be seen at the MACBA in Barcelona, the MOMA in New York, the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, the Ringling Museum in Florida, the Art Museum of Brasilia, the Design Center in Stuttgart, the Haus Industriform in Essen, the Neue Sammlung in Munich, the Staatsgemäldesammlung Bayer in Munich, the Kunstindustrimuseum in Berlin, the Kunststofmuseum in Düsseldorf, the World Import Mart Museum and the History + Folkways Museum in Japan and the Museum für Angewandte Kunstgeschichte in Cologne.