John Kristian Becker (1915 – 1986) was a Danish designer, weaver and writer – educated by Gerda Henning at Kunstværkerskolen and by Geismar, at the Danish Weaver School with a diploma in both in 1938. After a short employment as a designer at The Blue Factory (Den Blå Fabrik), John Becker was employed (from 1939) at Gerda Henning’s private weaving school where he, in particular, got the opportunity to weave damask.
In 1946, John Becker and his wife Kristen Becker began their own artisan-weaving mill in Søllerød. Very absorbed in damask weaving and its possibilities their design was characterised by a tight composition and a well-organized profusion of details. Among the motifs, you will find combinations of geometrical shapes and naturalistic patterns. By the means of matching colour tones, which act up to each other, and the variation in the delicate yarns qualities structure, they have created harmony between the surroundings and the woven textiles. At first, the production consisted mainly of table linen, carpets and church textiles, whereas the last category was their greatest success with a large production of altar frontals, chasubles and altar cloths. A cooperation with Arne Jacobsen, after whose draft they produced the stage carpet for the Munkegårdsskolen and the curtains for the SAS-house, which was, in particular, a technical challenge but the very technical knowledge characterise the designs produced from Kirsten and John Becker’s artisan weaving mill in Søllerød.
In 1958, John Becker and Bent Georg Jensen both travelled to see the Finnish Weaver Dora Jung, and shortly after John Becker’s first design for Georg Jensen Damask, Calypso, was launched. This was the beginning of a long-standing cooperation as a designer for Georg Jensen Damask, and where he accomplished to launch more than 35 different designs, and where he to this day on has a permanent place in the collection.
John Becker has created designs such as the Becker 63 tea towel, the Twill tea towel, the Dandelion tablecloth and the Vildrose tablecloth for Georg Jensen Damask.
