SUSO

The Failed Connection

What’s the connection between Arne Jacobsen, the great Danish designer and architect, and McDonald’s, the not-so-great-although-bloody-delicious fast food chain? When the young Arne won an award in Paris in 1925 for an essay he’d written, his father peered down at the programme notes and, seeing the words ‘Artiste Arne Jacobsen’, exclaimed, “But Arne, you are too fat to be an artist.” Is obesity the missing link between the two then? We think not.

From that moment on Jacobsen junior kept what was a blossoming belly in pretty good shape. So, no, obesity is not the link. Indeed, I don’t think there is one. So why did McDonald’s feel the need to throw out the existing and entirely unremarkable furniture in some of its restaurants (should we even call them that?) and replace it with original Jacobsen designs? Why not go for something not quite so expensive but which still improves on what went before? By all means perk things up a bit, but we all know about McDonald’s. We go there knowing full well what we’re going to get. A choice paint job might have sufficed.

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Categories Design Tags Jacobsen McDonald's

By on 29/11/07