Piet Hein

Piet Hein was born in 1905 in Copenhagen and was a renowned scientist, mathematician, philosopher, author, designer and artist. Hein studied philosophy at the University of Copenhagen. His interest in art led him to take several courses at private art schools in Copenhagen. He also studied at Stockholm’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

Back in Copenhagen, he resumed his studies in philosophy, which he chose to combine with theoretical physics. For Piet Hein, there was always a connection between subjective art and objective science. He always saw himself as both an artist and a scientist.

Hein went on to design everything from furniture to games and lighting fittings. He is known for designing Sergels torg in Stockholm with architect David Helldén. Together with Bruno Mathsson, he also created the revolutionary tension leg, which can be found on the immensely popular Superellips table. The shape of the super ellipse was developed with mathematical intuition and resolved the contrast between the circle and the square.

Piet Hein also devoted himself to writing poetry, which helped him to find a harmonious method of production and design. According to him, art is the solution to problems that cannot be clearly formulated until they have a solution. Many architects and designers who worked with and around Piet Hein consider his designs to have a distinct poetic element.

During his lifetime, Piet Hein developed friendships with both Albert Einstein and Charles Chaplin. Hein received numerous awards for his services, including the Aarestrup Medal in 1969, the Industrial Design Prize, the Annual Prize of the Danish Design Council and the Tietgen Medal in 1990. Internationally, Hein received the Alexander Graham Bell "Silver Bell" in 1968 and the Doctorate in Human Letters at Yale University in 1972. Piet Hein is one of the most recognized Danes of modern times, right after Nils Bohr and author Karen Blixen.