Preben Fabricius & Jørgen Kastholm, FK-85 chair for Kill International

PREBEN FABRICIUS (Denmark, 1931- 1984) and JØRGEN KASTHOLM (Denmark, 1931-2007).
Lounge chair F5-85, designed in 1960’s.
Upholstery black leather, with a 5-star base in aluminum, armrests in leather.
Signs of wear and patina.
Produced by Kill International.
Measurements: 90 x 75 x 85 cm, seat high 40.

The FK-85 was created by designers Preben Fabricius and Jørgen Kastholm. It consists of a light structure in cast aluminum, with the seat, backrest and armrests upholstered in leather. Its sober and elegant design, with simple lines, makes it a timeless product but at the same time captures all the spirit of the time. It is a piece of furniture that brings together design, quality materials and functionality in a single object.

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 or 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 + Folkwa.