Jo Hammerborg

Jo Hammerborg grew up on the outskirts of Randers in a regular middle-class family. He trained as a silversmith, participated in Denmark’s resistance and struggle for freedom in 1940-45 as a saboteur, studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and worked as a silversmith at Georg Jensen. In 1957, he was hired as chief designer at the lamp manufacturer Fog & Mørup, where he worked until 1980. He was a key driving force for Fog & Mørup, and it was under his leadership that the company experienced their most creative and commercially successful period. With a distinct design philosophy, great insight in elimination technique and a profound understanding of form, function and aesthetics, he created over 180 different designs of lamps, several of which have received international awards. In his private life Jo Hammerborg was an active and very versatile athlete who, along with his professional career, was also a pioneer in parachuting and flying. In a tragic manner, it was his great passion for skydiving that cost him his life when, at the age of only 62, he died in an accident.