Blå Kant (Blue Line) designed by Grethe Meyer

Named for the fine blue line that runs along the edges of the light grey faience, and received the inaugural Danish Industrial Design Prize (ID) in 1965.

Teapot in Blå Kant (Blue Line)

Grethe Meyer was one of the most distinguished Danish industrial designers, producing ranges for Royal Copenhagen and Georg Jensen, among others. In 1960 Meyer founded her own architectural and design practice, which focused on designing everyday products for the table and kitchen.

She had an analytical eye, studying how people interacted within the home, researching eating habits and space limitations. Her influential research led the way into standardising the size of products. 

Keeping in mind the way people live with her pieces, she used her knowledge and research to create products that were not only beautiful, but also highly usable and practical. She strongly believed that individuals should have fewer items that they could afford but of the best quality. And used her training and knowledge of form, mass and industrial production techniques to produce pieces which were minimalist yet tactile, a characteristic of all Scandinavian design.

In the Nordic countries during both the inter-war and the post-war years, Modernism in ceramics followed both the Studio Pottery and ‘Industrial Design models of design and production. In Denmark companies such as the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Factory and Bing & Grøndahl, originally founded in the 18^th and 19th centuries respectively, were at the forefront of the post-war mass manufacture of well-designed industrially -produced ceramics.

A particular feature of Nordic Modernism was the fact that many of the leading designers, such as Henning Koppel, Grethe Meyer, and Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe, designed for various manufacturers across different media, such as ceramics, wood, glass and metal ware. This stylistic unity of objects and home furnishings meant that, for the first time, a stylish home was affordable for a large section of society.