Jens Risom was born in Denmark in 1916 to an Architect father who encouraged his son to study business and contemporary design.   He studied at the Business College of Niels Brock in Copenhagen and worked for Erns Kuhn in Denmark, crating several furniture designs for Normina.   His designs for Normina were exhibited at the Cabinetmakers Guild Exhibition in 1937.   He also worked with Nordiska Kompaniet (NK) where he was able to connect with the designs of Aalvar Alto and Bruno Mathsson.   In 1939 he arrived in the United States and went to work for Knoll, designing in 1941 one of the first