The so-called GJ chair is constructed of two folded plywood pieces. The deceptively simple construction was achieved through such a complex process of lamination that only about three hundred were produced in the 1960s (the design was reissued in 2009). Unusually for a woman, Jalk had apprenticed as a cabinetmaker and studied furniture, at the Copenhagen Royal Academy of Fine Arts with Kaare Klint, before establishing her own design office. One of her earliest projects as an independent designer was a 1947 furniture set for a "self-supporting woman's den." A thoughtful approach to users' needs and her exploratory manipulation of materials and industrial production made her work highly sought after.
Gallery label from Designing Modern Women 1890–1990, October 5, 2013–October 1, 2014.
