Poul Cadovius and the Royal System
On the occasion of Poul Cadovius‘s birthday, we celebrate his enduring contribution to maintaining order in the home: the Royal System.
Poul Cadovius and the Royal System
On the occasion of Poul Cadovius‘s birthday, we celebrate his enduring contribution to maintaining order in the home: the Royal System.
Born in Frederiksberg on 27th September 1911, Cadovius developed the original concept for the Royal System in 1948 as a means of freeing up valuable floor space from ever-increasing clutter.
As Cadovius noted: “Most of us live on the bottom of a cube. If we were to use the walls in the same way we use the floor, we would get more space to live in.”
His ingenious response was a pared-back modular system of upright elements supporting shelves, cupboards and workstation units with an elegantly simple system of hooks and holes.
This could be installed with ease in infinite permutations to suit the unique circumstances of each domestic environment – and extended or reconfigured to accommodate changing circumstances over time.
Launched as the world’s first wall-hung shelving system, the Royal System immediately established a benchmark for storage design and was recognised with a gold medal at the Finland Furniture Fair in 1950 and silver at the Milan Triennale.
This pioneering design went on to enjoy worldwide success, thanks to its elemental simplicity and adaptability – not to mention its handsome appearance.
Now produced by Danish furniture manufacturers DK3, each element of the Royal System is still made to the exacting specification established by Cadovius.
Now in its seventh decade, the Royal System continues to bring a distinctively Danish sense of order to living and working spaces – something to be celebrated along with the birthday of its designer.
