Kay Bojesen Denmark

Why it is renowned

Kay Bojesen is best known for his wooden animals, and his monkey was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in the 1950s.¹ His designs sold abroad as well as in Denmark in his lifetime, and the monkey has since become a design classic known worldwide.²¹

The story

The Copenhagen silversmith won a toy competition held by the association Dansk Arbejde in 1922, which started his work in wood.² Cars, trains, horses, dogs, elephants and soldiers of the Royal Guard followed, each with limbs or parts that move.²¹ He made the monkey in teak and limba in 1951 for a children's room exhibition, as a coat hook with long arms that reach down to a child's height; 600 sold in the first month.²¹ Rosendahl bought the rights to the toys in 1990 and makes the wooden figures today.¹³

What to know it by

• Monkey1951Kay BojesenTeak and limba, with hooked hands and feet
• ElephantKay BojesenOak
• BearKay BojesenOak and maple
• Royal GuardKay BojesenSoldiers of the Danish Royal Guard