Our heritage

The family lagacy behind Designers Trust

For more than a century, the Jensen family has created designs – going from initial idea to final product for some of the World’s most iconic brands, winning countless design awards, and being displayed in the most prestigious design museums worldwide among these a permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and countless design icons to their name, the Jensens' have the most award-winning family name in the world of industrial design.

This experience serves as the foundation for the process, which designers and brands are guided through on the Designers Trust platform.

Alfred and Jacob Jensen

Alfred Jensen started his own upholster and furniture business ‘Alfred Jensen & Son’ in 1920, where his son Jacob Jensen started his career as an apprentice. Later on, Jacob studied industrial design at the school of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen. In 1958 he started his own business named ‘Jacob Jensen Industrial Form Giving’, which was renamed in 1981 to ‘Jacob Jensen Design’.

Jacob and Timothy Jensen

Chief designer and professor Timothy Jacob Jensen was born in 1962 to an American mother from New York and a Danish father from Copenhagen. From the age of four, he grew up in the rural surroundings of Hejlskov on the shores of the Limfjord in Jutland Denmark. From a very young age, Timothy was regarded as a prodigy by many. Having had a rebellious educational upbringing and spending only 7.5 years in school, Timothy joined his father Jacob Jensen’s design studio in 1978 and spent the next six years working there. Timothy joined Bang & Olufsen’s chief designers, Jacob Jensen and David Lewis, at the age of 17, and at 19 he had designed his first car, named Logicar.

At the age of 22, he designed the iconic Jacob Jensen classic wrist watch, which was later included in The Museum of Modern Art New York design collections. After running his own studio in Copenhagen for three years, he travelled the world and worked with Ross Littell in Como, Italy and Gerry Musset in Melbourne, Australia.

In 1990, Timothy took over the studio in Hejlskov along with the overall responsibility for all designs and initiatives created up until the end of 2018. As CEO at Jacob Jensen Design, Timothy founded the Scandinavian lifestyle brand Jacob Jensen, which grew to be represented in more than 30 countries. He became chief designer at Gaggenau at the age of 30.

At 32, he became advisor to the Cultural Affairs Committee of the Danish government and was included in the book “Who’s Who” at 34.

Timothy, Toko and Freja

At the age of 34, Timothy had his first daughter, Toko and at 38, a second daughter, Freja. Timothy has been a prominent international keynote speaker since the age of 40, and he was made professor at Fudan University in Shanghai at 48. In 2011, he was appointed as Master of DeTao Masters Academy and established the Jacob Jensen Design I DeTao Shanghai studio. At the age of 51, he established Jacob Jensen Design I KMUTT Bangkok studio in collaboration with King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi.

Timothy was named Designer of the Year in China in 2017 at the age of 55, and the following year he was appointed a member of the jury for the iF Design Award 2019, one of the world’s most prestigious design prizes. At the age of 56, Timothy sold all his shares at Jacob Jensen Design and opened Timothy Jacob Jensen Studios in 2019.

In 2020 with a group colleagues and investors he laid the foundations of what became Designers Trust in March 2021 and founded the lifestyle brand By Timothy later that year.

Today Timothy’s daughters Freja Jensen and Toko Jensen are apprentices in the family business, being the 4th generation of Jensens to enrich the world with their remarkable creativity.

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Timeless Designs

Designs that stood the test of time

The Jensen family shaped the design world through their innovative contributions, commitment to aesthetics and functionality, and dedication to advancing design principles for the modern era. Their impact can be seen in the timeless elegance of Jacob Jensen's minimalist designs and the contemporary relevance of Timothy Jacob Jensen's innovative work.

Legendary Danish Design Location

The legendary Danish Design location

56°37’41’’N 9°12’42’’E is the location where Designers Trust and Timothy Jacob Jensen Studios are situated. Its exceptional architecture and remarkable setting on the shores of the Limfjord in Jutland Denmark has attracted creative people from all over the world. In this incredible location in Hejlskov, some of the most beautiful and functional craft and design objects of our time have been created since the stone age.

Going back in time, this location has been the centre of exceptional imagination and craftsmanship. In 1948, the renowned artist and craftsman Jacob Hermann rode down a dirt road on his Nimbus motorcycle to paint a watercolour of the beautiful landscape overlooking the fjord. This was where the first Danes settled during the Nordic stone age more than 10,000 years ago. Flint axes and other unique tools discovered on the site are a testament to the resourcefulness of the people who lived here. Hermann ended up buying the land to build a small atelier where he could paint his pictures and make his art and crafts during summer. In winter, Hermann worked at the School of Arts and Crafts in Copenhagen with fellow teachers such as Jørn Utzon and Hans Jørgen Wegner.

One of Hermann’s students was the soon to be legendary Bang & Olufsen chief designer Jacob Jensen. Jensen would cycle to Jutland during his summer break to visit his teacher and help him build the atelier, which eventually became the iconic design studio. Jensen ended up buying the estate from Hermann in 1965 and resettled his design studio and family in Hejlskov in 1966. Timothy Jacob Jensen was four years old at the time. By the age of 16, he joined his father’s design team. The impressive creativity coming out of the studio from generation to generation placed it amongst the elite of the international design world. In 1990, Timothy Jacob Jensen bought the estate from his father and later extended the studio with a west wing.

After separation with Jacob Jensen Design in 2018, Timothy has totally renovated the studio and installed a large geothermal system powered by electricity from all the wind turbines in the region, making the building almost environmentally neutral. Today the studio holds some 30 rooms in a 980-square-metre complex on four levels connected by three underground tunnels. The building has received attention from international media since its earliest days. It has been selected as the region’s most beautiful estate and came in second as the most beautiful home in Denmark in 2013.

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