Niels Bendtsen
b. Copenhagen, Denmark, 1943
Born in Denmark in 1943, designer Niels Bendtsen emigrated with his family to Canada in 1951. In place of a formal design education, Bendtsen trained as an apprentice for his father, a Scandinavian furniture designer and craftsman. During this time, Bendtsen gained valuable skills and a respect for non-industrial, hand-built traditions. He opened his first retail store, now known as Inform Interiors, in 1963 and founded his own furniture and manufacturing line, BENSEN, in 1981. BENSEN was his answer to the absence of high-quality design that is both affordable and elegant. Designed with the heritage of the Danish masters in mind, BENSEN is modern furniture manufacturing at its finest.
An early Bendtsen design, the Ribbon Chair, is included in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and his work was featured on a Canadian stamp celebrating industrial design. In 2006, Bendtsen was honored with the British Columbia Creative Achievement Award of Distinction. modernlink has represented BENSEN in New York City since 2012 and is proud to call Niels a good friend and colleague.
