Prints and Drawings

The software that runs the archive can no longer be upgraded. We are moving the database to a new system. The archive ‘Prints and Drawings’ will be available again in a few months.

The collections in the archive ‘Prints and Drawings’ document the design process that takes place before the finished design – from the Golden Age of design and craftsmanship to today’s handicrafts and industrial design. The collections serve as a tool for design research and design education, and the study hall in the archive is visited by students, researchers, and collectors, as well as personnel from Danish and foreign museums. We loan our materials to museums all over the world.

In addition to sketch materials, the collection’s strength is printed graphic design, in particular from Denmark: visual identity, font design, packaging, artist books and book covers.

We collect original drawings and preliminary works of Danish designers and craftspeople, and in our newly-acquired material, we look for a connection between sketch materials and the Designmuseum collections.

The two most significant graphic collections in the archive are an extensive collection of Japanese color woodcuts and Japanese book crafts, along with a new collection of Danish and international record covers.

The collections in the archive ‘Prints and Drawings’ also include a significant and very broad selection of European ornamental engravings from the 16th and 17th century.

Among the major names represented are: G.F. Hetsch, Johan Rohde and Thorvald Bindesbøll, Knud V. Engelhardt, Poul Henningsen and Marie Gudme Leth, Finn Juhl, Poul Kjærholm and Grete Jalk, Erik Mortensen and Lennart Raaholt, Bernadotte and Bjørn, Jacob Jensen and Jan Trägårdh, Gunnar Biilmann-Petersen, Claus Achton Friis and Johan Adam Linneballe, Karen Bennicke, Ole Jensen and Cecilie Manz.