Danish design is inextricably linked with the design icons of the twentieth century.

In an overview of some 120 years of design history, this publication reveals how Danish design is the result of a success story that had already begun in the late nineteenth century. One exemplary representative of Skønvirke, the Danish form of Art Nouveau, is the universal artist Thorvald Bindesbøll. He became a role model for subsequent generations of artists and designers such as Mogens Ballin and Johan Rohde, both of whom show a tendency towards the reduction and geometricisation that still inform Danish design today and are associated with such artists as Georg Jensen, Verner Panton, Nanna Ditzel, Henning Koppel and Arne Jacobsen.

Beneath the illustrated objects lie small, often unknown or surprising treasures as well as design icons such as the PH Artichoke pendant lamp, the Panton Chair or contemporary ceramics.

With 350 quintessential objects from the holdings of the GRASSI Museum for Applied Art in Leipzig, the publication presents a total of 180 designers, workshops and manufactories, each with a dedicated short biography located in the appendix.