Niels Jørgen Haugesen

Niels Jørgen Haugesen (1936-2013) was a Danish designer who graduated from the Danish School of Arts, Crafts and Design and began his career in Arne Jacobsen’s studio. He designed the X-Line in 1977, in the midst of the "post-golden age" of Danish design: following the prosperous decades of the 1950s and 1960s, designers had to find a new path. The X-Line, with its fine steel wire and visible X-structure, belongs to the high-tech movement of the 1970s. Rolf Hay, co-founder of the company, describes it as "one of the few high-tech objects to come out of Denmark" — "a very minimal and transparent chair that shows how it is built." Haugesen, whose "honesty and humility" are highlighted by HAY, always prioritized the utility of his designs over his own recognition.