Designers & Makers

Nanna Ditzel

Danish 1923 - 2005

Nanna Ditzel, often described as the ‘Grand Dame of Danish Design’, was one of the most versatile figures in 20th-century Danish design. Working across jewellery, furniture, textiles and interiors, she developed a distinctive visual language characterised by sculptural form, experimentation and an unusually fluid approach to materials.

Born Nanna Hauberg in Copenhagen, she trained first as a cabinetmaker at Richards Skole before studying at the School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen. She also attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts' School of Furniture, where the principles of Danish furniture design were being shaped by figures including Kaare Klint.

It was during her studies that she met Jørgen Ditzel (1921–1961). They married in 1946 and established a design studio together, beginning a creative partnership that would range from furniture and textiles to silver and jewellery. The Ditzels were interested in challenging conventional approaches to design, experimenting with materials and exploring the relationship between an object, its form and the person using or wearing it.

Illustrated: [Lead] Erik-Brahl-Fotografi, A Portrait of Nanna taken in 2004, [Below l - r] Schnackenburg Fotrgrafi | Hubert Guillou - Nanna in the 60s in Hornbæk, | Nanna Ditzel Design - Nanna in the 60s | Nanna Ditzel Design. With use granted with kind permission by Nanna Ditzel Design.

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Jewellery became a significant part of their work during the 1950s. Following success in a jewellery competition in 1950, their designs attracted the attention of Georg Jensen, which began producing Ditzel jewellery in 1954. It marked the beginning of a relationship between Nanna Ditzel and the Danish silversmith that would continue, in different forms, for decades.

Her jewellery demonstrates the same fascination with shape found throughout her wider work. Silver could be curved, repeated and constructed around the body, allowing Ditzel to approach jewellery almost as miniature sculpture. Decoration was often secondary to form itself, resulting in bold designs that sit comfortably within the language of post-war Scandinavian Modernism while remaining unmistakably her own.

International recognition followed. Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel received the Lunning Prize in 1956, one of the most important awards for Scandinavian design at the time. In 1960, their Clementine bracelet received a gold medal at the Milan Triennale, further establishing jewellery as an important element of their practice.

Jørgen's death in 1961 brought their partnership to an early end, but Nanna continued to design for more than four decades. Her career became remarkably broad, encompassing some of the most recognisable Danish designs of the post-war period. These include the Hanging Egg Chair, originally created with Jørgen, alongside her textile designs and later furniture including the Trinidad Chair and Bench for Two.

Illustrated: [Below l - r] Nanna Ditzel Design (1&2) | Thomas Ibsen (3)

After moving to London in the late 1960s with her second husband, Kurt Heide, Ditzel became closely involved with the international design scene through their design centre, Interspace. She later returned to Copenhagen and continued working into the 21st century.

Throughout her career, Ditzel resisted being defined by a single discipline. A chair, textile or piece of jewellery might present a very different practical challenge, but each offered another opportunity to explore form, movement, colour and material. It is this breadth, coupled with an immediately recognisable sculptural sensibility, that made her such an important figure in Danish design.

“We must use our imagination, creativity and our visions of the society to create the things and the environment we believe in.”

- Nanna Ditzel, from her 1997 lecture Good taste? at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Design.

Department

Jewellery

Department

Modern Design

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