Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971) trained as a mason before studying at the Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, Copenhagen, where he graduated in 1927. As s student, Jacobsen showed early promise, winning a silver medal for a chair that was exhibited at the 1925 Paris "Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs." Between 1927 and 1929, Jacobsen worked in the architectural offices of Paul Holsøe, after which he established his own design office in Hellerup and began practising independently as an architect and interior designer. His early work was influenced by the achievements of Le Corbusier (whose "Pavilion de l'Esprit Nouveau" he had seen in Paris), Gunnar Asplund and other Modern Movement designers such as Mies van der Rohe. Jacobsen was among the first to introduce Modernism to Danish design through his projects such as "House of the Future", which he co-designed with Flemming Lassen in 1929.

His first important architectural commissions were for the Bella Vista housing project, Copenhagen (1930-1934) and the functionalist Rothenborg house, Ordup (1930) which was conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk (complete art work). For his best known and most fully integrated works, the SAS Air Terminal and Royal Hotel, Copenhagen (1956-1960), Jacobsen designed every detail from textiles and sculptural furnishings, such as his Swan and Egg chairs (1957-1958), to light fdittings, ashtrays and cutlery.

A decade earlier, Jacobsen had also worked as an industrial designer and achieved considerable success, most notably with his famous chair designs for the furniture manufacturer Fritz Hansen. His Ant chairs (1951-1952) and his Series 7 chairs (1955) are still among the most commercially successful seating programmes ever produced. Jacobsen also designed lighting for Louis Poulsen, metal ware for Stelton and Michelsen, textiles for August Millech, Grautex and C. Olesen, and bathroom fittings for I.P. Lunds. From 1956 until 1965, he was a professor emeritus at the Skolen for Brugskunst in Copenhagen. During the 1960s, Jacobsen's most important architectural scheme was for St. Catherine's College, Oxford, which, like his earlier work, was conceived as a wholly unified project and as such involved the design of site specific furniture. Jacobsen combined sculptural and organic forms with the traditional attributes of Scandinavian design - material and structural integrity - to produce simple, elegant and functional designs that have a remarkable, timeless appeal.