Fritz Hansen - Kasper Salto - Scandinaviandesign.com

Kasper Salto (b. 1967) is a Danish furniture designer whose work for Fritz Hansen has produced some of the company’s most successful contemporary products, including the Little Friend side table, NAP chair series, and Pluralis table.

Salto trained as a cabinetmaker with Jørgen Wolff before studying industrial design at the Royal Danish Academy, with additional studies at Art Center College of Design in Switzerland. This combination of traditional craftsmanship and industrial design methodology defines his approach.

His breakthrough came with the Runner chair (1997), which caught the attention of Fritz Hansen’s design manager Bjørn Stegger at the Danish Cabinetmakers’ Exhibition. Salto founded his own studio in 1998 and began his collaboration with Fritz Hansen in 1999.

The ICE chair series marked his first Fritz Hansen project. Little Friend (2005), a height-adjustable side table designed to complement Arne Jacobsen’s Egg and Swan chairs, became an instant classic for modern nomadic living. The NAP chair (2010) won the Danish Design Award in 2011, with the jury praising its “unmistakable Nordic design characteristics.”

Salto has also designed the Council Chair for the UN Trusteeship Council Chamber in New York, now produced by Onecollection. His awards include the Red Dot Design Award, Le Grand Prix du Design, Finn Juhl Prize, and Danish Designer of the Year.

His design philosophy centers on human observation: “There are basically three standard sitting positions—normal, active, and passive—matching what we typically do when we sit in chairs.”