Klinkby Design

jorgenklinkby.dk

“My designs should have clear concepts in terms of function, structure and shape. These concepts should combine to produce an easily understandable whole with no superfluous detail.” That is how architect Jørgen Klinkby defines his aim.

Jørgen Klinkby had been drawing, painting and designing since childhood, so applying to the School of Architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen seemed the natural choice after graduating from high school. In 1965, after completing his studies, he got a job at Eske Kristensen’s design studio. Here, he designed several (now iconic) buildings for the Carlsberg breweries, including the bottling plant with its ‘Hanging gardens’ and the storage cellar with gold discs on its façade, which now houses Hotel Ottilia.

For the next 7 years, he worked for Arne Jacobsen as a project architect on the National Bank of Denmark building.

In 1976, he applied to DSB to be part of developing a new, cohesive design for DSB as a whole. Having initially joined the architectural drawing office, he soon became head of a newly created ‘standards and design office’, responsible for coordinating work. Much of this design work for DSB went on to gain international recognition in the form of design awards.

At the same time, he set up Klinkby Design, gradually focusing his resources. This led to award-winning product and lighting designs (with awards including ‘Luminexprisen’, ‘Formlandprisen’ and ‘FX International Interior Design Awards’) and most recently, the 2025 relaunch of his KOLORIT pendant lights in their original design.