About Arno Malinowski

My grandparents, the sculptor Arno Malinowski and his wife, Hedvig Malinowski, always received dinner guests at their home with a festive and beautiful table. Every detail was thought-through and my grandfather’s stylish silver corpus in the shape of bowls, cutlery, cream can and cigarette holder shone on the table – even though there was not always a lot of money to buy the food. After all they were artists. And how do you then make a meal richer and more special? My grandmother was a great cook and that, of course, was the most important. But my grandfather’s sense of humour and creativity also played a part. The answer was menu cards! Simple and beautifully made cards on which you could write the menu and the drinks too. And on the backside a date and a name, so that one could remember the occasion and see where one should sit. The card enlightened the table and told the guests what they could look forward to and tease their appetite. Even more, the guest could take their card home and place the beautiful print as a memory of a nice meal, an evening and good company. At the same time, my grandfather got a chance to play with the paper and its possibilities and to explore his very own style, inspired by Japanese ideas of form, art deco and functionalism. These cards are now re-printed, based on Arno Malinowski’s old linoleum plates – and you are therefore holding a very personal and unique piece of Danish design from the middle of last century in your hand right now. Read their story