Born in 1919 and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, Jens Quistgaard forged metal on his own anvil at age 14 and exhibited self-designed sets of knives a year later. In fact, it was Quistgaard’s work on display at a knife exhibition in Copenhagen in 1950 that caught the eye of American entrepreneur Ted Nierenberg. Quistgaard had the artistic vision to take everyday household tools and make them beautiful, and Nierenberg had the know-how to make beautiful tools available to the everyday buyer. Together they formed Dansk, a flatware and cookware company, in 1954.