Jens Risom played a significant role in bringing Scandinavian modern design to the United States, most notably through his 600 series released in 1942 by Knoll Furniture Company. The son of a Danish architect, Risom immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 seeking to popularize modern furniture. In 1941, he met German immigrant Hans Knoll, a furniture importer and distributor, who was serendipitously looking for a designer to develop furniture that could be produced locally during the war years. Risom and Knoll took a four-month tour of the U.S., seeking to learn what Americans wanted from modern design. The next year, Knoll released its first catalogue with 15 designs by Jens Risom, including this side chair, Model 666WSP. Risom’s designs were simple in form and made of locally available, non-wartime limited materials: softwoods and discarded parachute cloth made with newly invented Nylon. This early example of the design is believed to retain its original parachute webbing.

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