Moduline living room set by Knudsen & Lind for Cado, Denmark 1960s

Known for their clean and simple Scandinavian modern pieces, Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen and Torben Lind were immensely influential in promoting Danish mid-century modern design across Europe and around the world during the 1960s and 1970s.

Danish furniture designer Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen (1930–2009) graduated from the School of Crafts in 1952 and studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen until 1955. He later met Danish furniture designer Torben Lind (1928–2016), and beginning in 1962 the pair collaborated on creating designs for Danish furniture manufacturer PP Møbler.

During the 1960s, Gjerløv-Knudsen and Lind established a reputation for their designs that were not only functional and eye-pleasing, but also comfortable and durable. Using high-quality materials such as beech, teak, fine leather and plywood, Gjerløv-Knudsen and Lind’s sofas, lounge chairs, side tables, coffee tables and living room sets are light, precise and beautifully minimalist.

Throughout their long collaboration, Gjerløv-Knudsen and Lind designed furniture for several Danish and Scandinavian manufacturers, including Mogens Kold Møbelfabrik and France and Søn. Among their most popular designs was the Moduline Slipper chair for France and Søn, which featured an oak frame, leather upholstery and modular body that could be adjusted into a settee. Gjerløv-Knudsen and Lind also designed the iconic Skopa chair for IKEA in the early 1970s. 

Today, Gjerløv-Knudsen and Lind’s designs are highly desirable among architects, interior designers and collectors of classic Scandinavian modern furniture.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage Ole Gjerløv-Knudsen and Torben Lind seating and tables.

While Danish furniture company Cado is popular among collectors of Scandinavian modern furniture for its well-crafted chairs, sofas, coffee tables and dining tables, the brand is best known for its sculptural wall shelving systems created by renowned Danish designer Poul Cadovius (1911–2011), Cado's founder.

The Copenhagen-born Cadovius initially studied to be an upholsterer and saddler before pursuing furniture design. He began his career in the 1940s making Venetian blinds and other window treatments before shifting his focus toward designing versatile furnishings that could be adapted to all sorts of interior spaces.

In 1945, Cadovius founded the furniture manufacturer Royal System intending to produce his designs for postwar homeowners. His visionary works included the 1948 Royal System shelving unit, a space-saving solution that underscored Cadovius’s penchant for problem-solving in a multifunctional way. Rather than balance shelves on wooden or metal legs, it held them to the wall with brackets. The wall unit was practical and functional, but it was also decorative, made of rich and exotic woods like walnut, rosewood and teak, a favorite wood of Cadovius’s and a highly sought-after material among mid-century modern designers. 

Cadovius established Cado in the late 1950s. The manufacturer followed the Royal System shelving unit with several other modular storage designs including the System Ultra in 1957, System Cado in 1960 and System Abstracta in 1962. Two years later, with more than 400 patents to his name, Cadovius purchased premier Danish furniture manufacturer France & Søn and incorporated it into Cado.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Cado collaborated with influential Danish and European designers of the era such as Steen Østergaard, best known for his stackable Cado 290, a Space Age fiberglass-and-polyamide nylon lounge chair; Finn Juhl, a stylistic maverick who embraced expressive, free-flowing shapes in chair and sofa designs much earlier than his colleagues; and Ole Wanscher, who drew on Shaker furniture and Chippendale forms and created the widely loved Colonial chair and coffee table for P. Jeppesens Møbelfabrik. 

Cadovius’s designs — as well as the other works manufactured by Cado — are widely coveted by vintage furniture enthusiasts all over the world. In 2018, the Danish brand dk3 reissued the Royal System as well as a more compact version.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage Cado case pieces and storage cabinets, seating and tables.