The story of the Danish mid-century architect and designer Grethe Meyer spans the fields of design, culture and women’s history. It illustrates the complexities of being both a single mother and a pioneering architect at a time when her male colleagues dominated the field. Throughout her career, Grethe Meyer’s professional focus was on the major cultural shifts in 20th-century domestic life. She designed the table service Blue Line, which has elevated everyday meals in countless Danish homes for decades. She set a new course for cooking with her stoneware series Firepot, and in collaboration with her friend and lover, the renowned architect Børge Mogensen, she created furniture with staying power.
In many ways, she helped revolutionize Danish interior design and kitchen habits by infusing everyday life with significance, functionality and beauty. Her iconic designs, based on in-depth research into family life and housing needs, shaped a new way of life rooted in the ideals of modernity and freedom shared by her now-canonized postwar generation of idealist architects and designers.
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‘An indispensable book for anyone interested in design.’
— Kulturinformation
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‘Sensuous and entertaining, with a perfect balance of popular and factual.’
— Politiken
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‘It is highly appropriate to shine a light on Grethe Meyer and her groundbreaking work.’
— Berlingske
