Deconstructing Product Design

AJ Cutlery

Arne Jacobsen, 1957

1. The cutlery is a product of Jacobsen’s theory of integrated design and architecture, created as part of his SAS Royal Hotel commission, one of many objects ranging from door handles to ashtrays created specifically for the hotel. The modernist implements, however, were poorly received by guests and replaced by traditional cutlery a short time after their introduction. It was not until their selection by Stanley Kubrick to appear in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey that the space-age cutlery enjoyed a revival, eventually emerging as an icon of modernist design. Just before his death in 1971, Jacobsen summarized his general approach to design: “First of all, it is the proportions, and next comes the texture — ...