Theodore David "Ted" Nierenberg (May 20, 1923 – July 31, 2009) was an American business executive and entrepreneur who created

Dansk International Designs Dansk Designs (also known as Dansk International Designs starting in 1954) is an American distributor and retailer of cookware, tableware, and other home accessories based in Mount Kisco, New York. , the brand was called Dansk and was a wholly ...

, a company that sells

Scandinavian Design Scandinavian design is a design movement characterized by simplicity, minimalism and functionality that emerged in the early 20th century, and subsequently flourished in the 1950s throughout the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway, ...

-style cooking and serving utensils and other home furnishings, established after discovering the simple but elegant design style on a 1950s trip to

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. Nierenberg was born on May 20, 1923, the son of businessman Albert Nierenberg and his wife Rose. He majored in engineering management at

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1944. After graduation, he worked in the family business that manufactured metal nameplates for appliances.Fox, Margalit
"Theodore Nierenberg, Founder of Dansk, Dies at 86"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', August 3, 2009. Accessed August 4, 2009. On a trip to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

in May 1954, Ted and his wife

Martha Nierenberg Martha Nierenberg (1924 – 2020) (known in full as Martha ''née'' Weiss de Csepel Nierenberg), was a Hungarian-born American businesswoman who co-founded Dansk International Designs. Early life and education Nierenberg was born in Buda ...

visited a museum in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, where he saw a set of unique cutlery on display that combined

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...

handles and stainless steel, created by artist and industrial designer Jens Harald Quistgaard.Fox, Margalit
"Jens Quistgaard, 88, a Designer of Popular Tableware, Is Dead"
''

'', February 2, 2008. Accessed August 4, 2009. Nierenberg tracked down Quistgaard and spoke with him in an effort to convince him to manufacture the cutlery, but Quistgaard insisted that the pieces could only be

forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which it ...

by hand, one piece at a time. Nierenberg was able to convince Quistgaard that the pieces could be mass-produced, leading to Dansk International Design's first product, the ''Fjord'' line, which has been one of the firm's enduring bestsellers. Dansk was established that same year by Nierenberg and his wife in the garage of their

Great Neck, New York Great Neck is a region on Long Island, New York, that covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point, and Russell Gardens, and a number of unincorpo ...

home, with Quistgaard as its founding designer. By 1956, Nierenberg wasn't certain that American consumers were ready for the spare styling and brought some early samples of stainless steel flatware with sinuous carved wooden handles to a Manhattan store, and was so surprised that the company bought several hundred units on the spot that he almost walked in front of a bus driving down the street.Reif, Rita
"Accessories Designed by Dane Proving Popular in U.S. Homes; Jens Quistgaard, Son of Noted Sculptor, a Born Craftsman"
''

'', October 10, 1958. Accessed August 4, 2009. By 1958, Nierengard and Quistgaard had expanded Dansk's wares to include teak magazine racks and stools, stoneware casseroles and salt and pepper shakers, and flatware with split cane handles, with ''

'' that year as "creating a stir" as "some of the most popular accessories found in American homes". Dansk relocated to Mount Kisco, New York and was known for its sleek, functional products often made of exotic woods such as teak, combined with enameled metal and stainless steel. Dansk was purchased in June 1985 by Dansk Acquisition Corp. in a deal initiated by Goldman Sachs.

Personal

His woodland garden and its Japanese maples, was described by ''The New York Times'' as being "widely considered among the finest gardens in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

". ''The Beckoning Path: Lessons of a Lifelong Garden'', a book of Nierenberg's photographs of his gardens, was published by Aperture Press in 1993.Higgins, Adrian
"Planting Seeds of Thought; A Rated Guide to the Season's Books on Gardens and Gardening"
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', December 16, 1993. Accessed August 4, 2009. Nierenberg died at age 86 on July 31, 2009, due to pancreatic cancer at his home in

Armonk, New York Armonk is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of North Castle, located in Westchester County, New York, United States. The corporate headquarters of IBM are located in Armonk. Geography and climate As of the 2010 census, A ...

. He was survived by his wife, two daughters, two sons and ten grandchildren.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nierenberg, Theodore Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Carnegie Mellon University alumni Deaths from pancreatic cancer Businesspeople from New York (state) People from Great Neck, New York People from Mount Kisco, New York 1923 births 2009 deaths People from Armonk, New York