The screen “Viper”, 1996.
Design: Hans Sandgren Jakobsen.
The screen “Viper” consists of a number of oval cardboard tubes which are connected and able to take on a lot of different shapes. It is moveable and very handy in offices, banks, exhibitions etc. The material cardboard is very honest and environmentally compatible, and therefore, I find it very suitable to work with. Also the top and bottom mountings on the screen is quite special and suit the cardboard very well.
At Orgatec in Cologne in 1998 Fritz Hansen´s main object was “Viper” made of aluminium tubes.”Viper” is available with and without perforations. Both can be made with the following surfaces: nature, aluminium or black paint.
“Viper” – A Screen with a Long Run-up.
It is always inspiring to hear about a thoroughly prepared and well-designed product which has come into being in “the right way” – from the very first rough draft, to the many demand analyses, and then the final version. However, the background for some products is not quite as rosy and straight ahead, and sometimes, the final product ends up as something very different from the original thought. Accidental design, one could call it, and this is exactly what happened with “Viper”. It started as a hammock, then became a Venetian blind, and ended up as a screen.
In 1991 Hans Sandgren Jakobsen (HSJ) exhibited his hammock at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair at the Bella Centre in Copenhagen. The hammock was made of double weaved flax and oval wooden slats which were inserted in the casings. The hammock was noticed by the Venetian blind manufacturer Jørn Kreb from the company Art Andersen & Copenhagen. He found the hammock very interesting (the hammock was by the way later sold to Nanna Ditzel, the Grand Old Lady of Danish furniture design) and Jørn Kreb and HSJ had a long talk about the construction of wooden slats – something Jørn Kreb is dealing with everyday in his work with Venetian blinds.
During the next couple of years Jørn Kreb and HSJ met several times at various exhibitions and fairs. As time went by, it became clear that if HSJ was able to come up with the right idea, Jørn Kreb would be interested in his work. In 1995 HSJ met Jørn Kreb at the Scandinavian Furniture Fair – again – and after some talk HSJ went home to his drawing table. The inspiration was the hammock, and the result was a Venetian blind made of wooden slats. However, the result did not impress Jørn Kreb and he suggested to turn the Venetian blind 90 degrees and use it as a screen instead. Furthermore, he was interested in finding a material which was less expensive than wood. With these suggestions in mind HSJ returned to his drawing table – the situation required some untraditional thinking. He wanted to maintain the oval profile because of its ability to soften the phase between light and shadow, nevertheless, wood and synthetic materials were out of the question due to the prices.
When visiting Jørn Kreb HSJ had noticed that one of the company´s products – the S-Wave Venetian blind – was made of pressed cardboard and he thought that this also could be the solution to his problem. In the light of this idea HSJ designed a screen build of upright oval cardboard pipes which were combined with turnable coupling links at top and bottom. The result: a flexible screen created of an economic and honest material. Nonetheless, simple and obvious ideas are not without problems – and in this case the problem was that no manufacturer of oval cardboard pipes existed. HSJ had to be creative and after a lot of experiments in which many rolls of kitchen paper were involved he succeed in finding a suitable method – the pipes were pressed oval while they were still wet – just when they came out of the machine. A manufacturer was found and after several attempts “Viper” was introduced to the public at an exhibition in 1996. A press release said the following about “Viper”:”A moveable screen suitable for offices, banks, exhibitions, hotel lobbies, and any other place in which flexibility is required. One moment a rolled up cylinder which can be carried around, the next a long, winding screen.” In February 1997 Jørn Kreb´s screen division – including “Viper” – was bought by the furniture manufacturer Fritz Hansen who is to develop the concept even further.
As the above explains “Viper” is an extraordinary product with a very tossed about background. It is a result of a joint-venture between Jørn Kreb and HSJ in which the dividing line between ideas man and designer is vague as “Viper” never would had been a reality without the co-operation between the two. The process is, however, characteristic for HSJ´s working method. When he develops an idea which he finds usable, he sticks to it – as for instance the oval form – and then he looks for a solution which can give the idea its justification. The innovation therefore lies in the recognition of the fact that the product are to have a totally different presentation and function than originally thought of. And therefore, it must undergo a radical transformation – which then offers a whole new problem for the designer to solve.
Mike Rømer
Hans Sandgren Jakobsen is a skilled craftsman with a background as a cabinetmaker and an education from the Danish Design School in Copenhagen, where he graduated in 1990. Hans Sandgren Jakobsen is an internationally recognized designer with a great passion for simplicity in the design process with many details and focus on functionality. Dedication and a pursuit of quality are characteristic of his work. With a passion for Nordic design, the furniture designer has created award-winning pieces.
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