Tage Frid (30 May 1915 – 4 May 2004) was a
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
-born
woodworker
Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.
History
Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials ...
, educator and author who influenced the development of the
studio furniture movement in the United States. His design work was often in the
Danish-modern style, best known for his three legged stool and his publications.
Early life
Son of a
silversmith
A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary great ...
, at the age of 13, he started a five-year
apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...
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 ...
followed by work in cabinet shops; worked for nearly a decade at the Royal Danish Cabinetmakers,
then spent time in
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
before immigrating to the United States in 1948 at the request of the
American Craft Council
The American Craft Council (ACC) is a national non-profit organization that champions craft based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1943 by Aileen Osborn Webb, the council hosts national craft shows and conferences, publishes a quarterly maga ...
.
Later career
Frid headed the program in
woodworking
Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.
History
Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...
of the School for American Craftsmen (SAC) in
Alfred, New York
Alfred is a town in Allegany County, New York, United States. The population was 4,896 at the 2020 census.
The Town of Alfred has a village named Alfred in the center of the town.
Alfred University and Alfred State College are located in th ...
; later moving with this program to
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in the town of Henrietta, New York, Henrietta in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degree ...
.
In 1962 he became professor of Woodworking and Furniture Design at the
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), remaining until 1985.
When teaching, he emphasized a craftsman's need to learn all the available tools and methods one could use to complete a given task. Thus, the person can work in any shop situation and produce the same quality. Frid's students include noted American studio furniture makers such as
Hank Gilpin,
Jere Osgood Jere Osgood (born 1936) is an American studio furniture maker, and teacher of furniture and woodworking. He taught for many years in the .
Early life and education
Jere Osgood was born in 1936 and raised in Staten Island, New York. He studied ar ...
,
Alphonse Mattia
Alphonse Mattia (1947 – April 10, 2023) was an American furniture designer, woodworker, sculptor and educator. In 2005, Alphonse Mattia was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council (ACC).
Biography
Alphonse Mattia was born in 1947 in P ...
,
William Keyser William Leigh Keyser (November 23, 1835 – June 3, 1904) was an executive of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) and the Baltimore Copper Company.
Early life
Keyser was born in Baltimore, Maryland on November 23, 1835, the son of Samuel S ...
,
John Dunnigan, and
Rosanne Somerson
Rosanne Somerson (born June 21, 1954) is an American-born woodworker, furniture designer/maker, educator, and former President of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). An artist connected with the early years of the Studio Furniture, her work a ...
.
He was an editor of
''Fine Woodworking'' magazine from its inception in 1975 to his death.
In 2001, Tage Frid was honored by
The Furniture Society
The Furniture Society, founded in 1996, is a membership-based, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation working to advance the art of furniture making by inspiring creativity, promoting excellence and fostering understanding of this art. The Soc ...
with its
Award of Distinction
The Furniture Society, founded in 1996, is a membership-based, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation working to advance the art of furniture making by inspiring creativity, promoting excellence and fostering understanding of this art. The So ...
. The Permanent collection of the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
owns some of his designs, most of which represent the Danish modern style.
Publications
Frid is best known for his three-volume work, "Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking". Some editions of which are published as the first two volumes in one, the third is still separate (Frid's own classic European-style workbench is detailed, in a revised and corrected version, in the third edition of this essential series):
*
*
*
Further reading
*
Hank Gilpin, "Professor Frid,"
''Fine Woodworking'' magazine 146 (Winter 2000-1), pp. 80–85.
* John Kelsey, "Tage Frid: A Talk with the Old Master,"
''Fine Woodworking'' magazine 52 (May–June 1985), pp. 66–67.
* Michael A. Stone, ''Contemporary American Woodworkers'', Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City UT, 1986, pp. 48–63.
* "Tage Frid" in Edward S. Cooke Jr., Gerald W.R. Ward, and Kelly H L'Ecuyer, ''The Maker's Hand: American Studio Furniture, 1940–1990'', Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA, 2003, p. 120.
References
External links
Oral history interview with Tage Frid, from 1980 June 24 – 1982 February 22 Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
, Smithsonian Institution
Furniture Society Award of Distinctionin the New York Times
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frid, Tage
1915 births
2004 deaths
American furniture designers
Rochester Institute of Technology faculty
Rhode Island School of Design faculty
American cabinetmakers
Danish furniture designers
Danish cabinetmakers
20th-century Danish woodworkers
Danish emigrants to the United States