.(This article is from the November 10 - 11, 1954 issue of DANSK KUNSTHAANDVAERK KOBENHAVN, a magazine published by THE DANISH SOCIETY OF ARTS AND CRAFTS AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGN.)

To create a set of eating utensils must be an alluring task for the modern designer. it is a problem in which shape, utility, and production technique are united to form a synthesis that will produce something of real worth. Eating utensils are tools which it should be a pleasure to use, and like all good tools their form should be natural and precise. This makes the problem a demanding one: a renewal of the traditional form cannot be produced simply by providing it with new and original frills and flourishes. The many flatware services which silver manufacturers constantly put on the market - the object of which in most cases is the purely commercial one of giving the public a new pattern to collect - play no role in new development. The craftsman who wishes to renew eating utensils must experiment with the basic forms, themselves; he must try to improve production techniques; he must endeavour to find new and better methods of employing his materials; he must analyze theactual eating process so as to be able to decide whether or not the hitherto used shapes are still the right ones. Economic factors must also be taken into account. Not until all this has been accomplished can he hope to develop a new form.

It is a difficult problem and we can easily understand why so few really good eating utensils have seen the light of day during the past generation. Therefore it is all the more remarkable that in the last few years a number of really new flatware services have been created. To produce them the designers have seriously studied the problems involved and by sparing themselves no pains have succeeded in finding new solution at several points.

Most of the good place settings that were produced in the 1930s and '40s were variations of the traditional form as represented by the familiar "double-ribbed" flat silver. Among these are Kay Boyesen's completely smooth table silver from 1929, Biilman Petersen's massive utensils from 1934, and Harald Nielsen's carefully fashioned service from 1947. Also Ole Hagen's elegant "Classic" flat silver from 1946 belongs to this good company. the only innovation to appear during this period is, in my opinion, Kay Boyesen's table silver from 1938. In these utensils, with the short handles which caused such astonishment at the time, proportions and dimensions are carefully balanced according to the funtional nature of each. When Boyesen found the traditional form of any part of the individual utensil functionally sound - e.g. the bowl of the spoon - he retained it; where it did not meet his exacting demands tradition was swept aside; thus, a timeless form, so to speak, was created. This explains why table silver designed in 1938 was able to win the highest award 13 years later at the Milan Triennial Exposition which included the very newest silver-work from all over the world. These 'Grand-prix' utensils are now also handsomely produced in stainless steel at the Swedish Mottala-Works. Boyesen's simple, natural forms are eminently suitable for production in the hard, clean metal - but it must be admitted that silver gives Boyesen's flatware an extra aesthetic value. Steel's many good qualities notwithstanding, silver is still a precious metal and one that is particularly suitable for eating utensils. It is neither too hard nor too soft, and , when shaped correctly, a silver knife, fork or spoon has exactly the weight it appears to have. It is beautiful when it has attained the patina of daily wear and tear.

To continue with silver, we can mention here two new services of flatware, each of which is remarkable in its own way. The first of these is Ole Hagen's "Tulip" pattern from "1953", the second was created by the Norwegian designer, Tias Eckhof, in the same year. The former (click HERE to see) is particularly interesting because it breaks away from tradition at several decisive points. Its very characteristic tulip shape might lead one to believe that it was designed from a decorative point of view but a closer examination will prove that, on the contrary, it is to a very high degree formed along functional lines. For instance, the decorative groove which joins the bowl to the handle is an extremely practical innovation for strengthening the weakest part of the utensil and at the same time is an elegant solution of one of the difficult aesthetic problems in the design of flatware. Moreover, Hagen has ignored the traditon that the handles of eating utensils should be more or less flat, a tradition which, of course, springs from the time when they were made from sheet silver. Today, when normally they no longer are forged but are cast from a mould, the reason for the tradition has disappeared. By giving the handle the right shape and thickness, Hagen has succeeded in distributing the weight correctly so that his utensils have proper balance. After using them for several days, "normal" utensils were surprisingly awkward to manipulate, probably because their weight is distributed more or less evenly. The handles of "Tulip" flatware are not round as a casual glance would seem to indicate. Seen in cross section they are almost rectangular with rounded edges, and the utensil does not "roll" in your hand. At the same time the slender shaft makes it possible to hold the spoon or fork in various ways without its feeling unnatural. As to the knife, it can be held either in the usual manner with the handle in the hollow of the hand and the index finger on the shaft close to the blade, or in the now frequently employed manner in which the handle rests in the cleft between the thumb and index finger (in the same way as a fountain pen is held). Hagen has likewise displayed daring independence in shaping the fork; the broad, open, short prongs are convincingly right in practice. The aim, after all, is to make a fork which can be used to pierce food of more or less solid consistency - from roast beef to creamed fish - and at the same time to take the sauce up with it, and for this Hagen's broad, spoon-like fork is well adapted.

Tias Eckhof's flat silver (click HERE to see), which won a prize in the Georg Jensen Jubilee competition, does not, like Hagen's, depart from tradition, but it is an extremely well designed service and it fulfils all functional demands in a very elegant manner. The concavity in the handle assures a firm grasp on the knife which, like Hagen's can be held in several ways. On the fork and spoon the concavity provides a natural resting place for the thumb and the rounded back allows the handles to rest comfortably between the index and middle fingers. A justifiable criticism may be that the stem joining the bowl and handle, which for aesthetic reasons has been made very slender, is too slight for a firm grasp close to the bowl. The answer to this is, of course, that this can be avoided by holding the handle nearer the top. This is quite true but it is also true that a spoon or fork is not always held at the same place: it depends on what you are eating. When it is "heavy" food the eater shifts the utensil's center of gravity by holding the handle nearer the bowl; when the food is "'light" the grasp is nearer the top. Likewise, the very narrow, rounded back is handsome but not quite right from a functional standpoint; the index finger does not get enough support when the prongs are turned down to pierce a piece of meat; the finger easily slips. On the other hand, the form of the bowl of the spoon, the pronged part of the fork, and the blade of the knife, is admirably designed, and on the whole Tias Eckhof's flatware service must be reckoned as one of the handsomest that has been produced by the Georg Jensen workshop in many years.

While few wholly functional flat silver services have been created in recent years, the same period has produced several excellent sets of stainless steel. This is probably due to the fact that the hard steel does not, like the softer metal, offer so many temptations to seek innovation through ornamentation. In the manufacture of steel utensils economy plays an important role; a competitive price is of less importance in the case of silver, which will always be more or less of a luxury. A stainless steel service which fulfils all demands as regards effective production and functional shape is Cohr's standard flatware (click HERE to see COHR flatware). Among more artistically formed services that have appeared in recent years is one designed by Gundorph Albertus for Georg Jensen in 1940. With these utensils the designer has proved that it is possible to create handsome stainless steel flatware without resorting to decorative embellishment, which is so little in keeping with the nature of the metal. (See BITTERSWEET flatware and CACTUS silverware designed by Albertus for Jensen.)

During the last few years a great number of flat stainless steel services have appeared on the market and several of them are remarkably good. Kay Boyesen's "Grand-prix" flatware has already been mentioned. The "Raadvad" service, designed by Jens Quistgaard, is another extremely well designed table setting. The concavity in the handles of the fork and spoon gives the thumb a natural resting place and at the same time it makes the handle light so that the weight is correctly distributed. This hollowing-out also give a visual effect of lightness and it produces light reflections which give life to the "dead" steel. The hollow in the handle of the knife, on the other hand, seems less convincing of its rightness. The knife is held quite far down the handle below the concavity and therefore there is no practical reason for it, except, perhaps, that it reduces the handle's weight. Likewise, the upward curve at the top of the handle of the knife has no practical purpose but must be ascribed wholly to the desire to make the knife match the other utensils. Actually, however there is no reason why the knife should have the same handle as the fork and spoon inasmuch as it is held in an entirely different manner when in use. (See other flatware sets designed by Quistgaard.)

Acton Bjorn has designed a flatware service for DANSK KNIVFABRIK which is remarkable in that the broadest part of the handle, which is usually at the top, has been moved down to the middle of the shaft. Bjorn has undoubtedly done this to shift the centre of gravity to the point where the knife is held, in order to obtain better balance. However, this is not a very expedient measure for though the utensils are quite well balanced the broad part is difficult to grasp. This makes it necessary to hold the utensil either very far down the handle or up near the top. Either way is very awkward. As already mentioned we move our grasp up or down the handle according to the food we are eating, and this is almost impossible with the "Acton" utensils. Neither does the concavity in the handle of the fork and spoon seem as natural as it does in the "Raadvad" service; it gives no real support to the thumb and arouses suspicion that it has been placed there for purely decorative purposes. On the other hand, the concavity in the handle of the "Acton" knife seems more justified than that in the "Raadvad" knife. Bjorn has placed it so far down the shaft that the thumb glides naturally into it. Like Quistgaard, Acton Bjorn has given his knife handle the same shape as the handles of the fork and spoon and here, too, the result is unsatisfactory. The very slender handle of the knife can only be grasped easily when held in one particular way, that is with the handle resting on the joint between the thumb and index finger. But how many are there who hold a knife that way?

It cannot be right to design eating utensils so that they can be held in one way, only. Erik Herlow realized this when he designed his new stainless steel service for the Universal Steel Co. Therefore he made the handle round where it is held and, to prevent it from "rolling" between the fingers, he flattened it at the top where it rests against the hand. However, as the ftat end of the handle is not pressed against the hand when eating (actually eating utensils are held rather loosely), this safety measure is not as efficient as it was meant to be and both the spoon and fork have some tendency to roll between the fingers. But at least one is not forced to hold the fork or spoon in a particular way because of its shape! The knife, however, does have this flaw; like the others already mentioned, the only way it can be held correctly is by letting the handle rest against the side of the hand. If held with the handle pressing into the palm its sharp edge would cause discomfort.

In designing this service Herlow has obviously endeavoured to create a set of functional tools, and in doing so he has employed the special characteristics of steel to full advantage. Thus, the contrast between the unburnished metal of the handles and the highly polished prongs, bowl, and blade, is very effective. The great advantage of using steel for flat tableware, the fact that the blade and handle of the knife can be cast in one piece, is here combined with the striking contrast between the dull handle and the lustrous blade. The hard metal, which permits very tenuous forms, has tempted Herlow to reduce all dimensions and undoubtedly he has reached the limit of what good craftsmanship permits. These stainless steel utensils are vaguely reminiscent of surgical instruments, a not very comfortable association when cutting a slice of underdone beef! But Herlow's flatware is unquestionably elegant, precise in form, and honest in its employment of the materials. It is industrial art of the same carat as Arne Jacobsen's famous three-legged chair.