Thorvald Bindesbøll

Finding little demand for his architectural services, Bindesbøll turned his attention to the applied arts in the 1880s. He encountered pottery through a friendship with the architect Andreas Clemmensen and began producing ceramics, initially through workshops like Frauens Levarefabrik and later through Eifrig's workshop in Valby. What he developed there was unlike anything being made in Denmark at the time: abstract, non-figurative surface decoration built from organic, swirling forms that anticipated the conventions of Art Nouveau while departing from its tendency toward literal naturalism. Art historian Nikolaus Pevsner later called him 'the most original ceramic artist of his generation.'

The scope of Bindesbøll's practice was unusually wide even by the standards of designers committed to total environments. He worked in ceramics, silverware, jewelry, furniture, lighting, carpets, bookbinding, posters, ex-libris designs, church decorations, and tombstones. His silver designs, executed by craftsmen rather than by Bindesbøll himself, brought the plasticity and rhythmic movement of his ceramic surfaces into a harder medium. His connections to the silversmith trade would later prove influential: he was among the first Danish artists to work seriously with Art Nouveau ornament, a tradition Georg Jensen would take further after opening his workshop in 1904.

His graphic work reached its widest public through the Carlsberg beer label, which he designed and which has remained substantially unchanged since its introduction - a rare case of a commercial commission achieving the kind of longevity normally reserved for civic monuments. He also designed the Dragon Fountain at Copenhagen's Rådhuspladsen in collaboration with Joakim Skovgaard, a public work that still stands. His connections to the Skagen artists' community resulted in his decorating the dining hall at Brøndum's Hotel, and the Skagens Museum holds a substantial collection of his ceramics, sketches, and applied works.

Bindesbøll died in Copenhagen on 27 August 1908. His work appears regularly at Bruun Rasmussen in Copenhagen, the auction house where all 12 of his lots in the Auctionist database have been offered. Items have included sketches, ceramics, silver serving pieces, furniture, and his 'Sun' chandelier. Collections of his working sketches - covering ex-libris designs, ornamental patterns, and ceramic and silver studies - have sold in the range of 2,400 to 6,000 DKK, offering collectors direct access to his design process at accessible price points.