Kasper Salto — Danish Designer - Scandinaviandesign.com

Kasper Salto (born 1967 in Copenhagen) is among the most consistently productive Danish designers of his generation. His long collaboration with Fritz Hansen has produced some of the company’s most commercially successful contemporary chairs — among them the Ice Chair, NAP, and Little Tip — each resolved with the structural clarity that defines his approach.

Training and Early Career

Salto studied at the Danish Design School in Copenhagen, graduating in 1994. His education placed him squarely within the tradition of Danish furniture craftsmanship — an emphasis on material understanding, precise joinery, and functional resolution that traces back through Kaare Klint and Børge Mogensen. After completing his studies, he established his own studio in Copenhagen.

The Fritz Hansen Partnership

Salto’s relationship with Fritz Hansen has been the defining collaboration of his career. Beginning in the 1990s, the partnership has resulted in a range of seating that spans contract, hospitality and domestic contexts. His designs for Fritz Hansen are typically characterised by an economy of structure — achieving stability and comfort through considered geometry rather than material excess.

Ice — Strength from Lightness

The Ice Chair, launched in 2002 and developed in collaboration with Thomas Sigsgaard, is Salto’s most widely recognised work. Designed for both stacking and linking, Ice addresses the practical demands of contract and public environments without sacrificing the formal quality expected of Fritz Hansen. The chair’s tapered legs and gently contoured seat create a silhouette that reads as light despite its structural rigour. Ice remains in the Fritz Hansen collection and is available in multiple configurations.

NAP — Anatomy of a Chair

The NAP chair (2012) demonstrates Salto working at a more intimate scale. Named for its cradle-like back support — designed to accommodate the nape of the neck — NAP is a side chair resolved with particular attention to the junction between seat and back. Available with and without armrests, and in a range of shell materials, it has found application in hospitality and professional settings across Europe.

Little Tip and Further Work

Little Tip (2016) extended Salto’s exploration of stacking chairs into a lighter register — a cafe and restaurant chair designed around an aluminium frame with a minimal footprint. Like Ice and NAP, it addresses a specific functional brief while maintaining the considered proportions that characterise Salto’s output. Beyond Fritz Hansen, Salto has worked with manufacturers including Fredericia and Lammhults.

Design Philosophy

Salto has described his approach as rooted in the belief that a chair must first be resolved structurally before it can be considered aesthetically. This is not formalism for its own sake, but a pragmatic position informed by the Danish tradition: a well-made object earns its form through the honesty of its construction. His work avoids both decorative excess and the studied minimalism that can produce chairs that look resolved in photographs but prove uncomfortable over time.