Dansk Designs Teak Bread Cutting Board
One of Jens Quistgaard's many designs for Dansk in the 50s and 60s, the design of this teak bread board allowed for easier cutting, catching crumbs, and even a cooling rack if your loaf was coming straight out of the oven.
Dimensions: 12" X 7-3/4" X 1/2"
Condition: GREAT vintage used shape
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Through the '60s and '70s, five major companies and importers were key players in bringing teak houseware products, largely of Danish design, to the US: Goodwood, Dolphin, Digsmed, Kalmar, and Dansk Designs. While most were importers bringing products in from overseas, Dansk worked directly with Danish designers to create their own product lines, manufacture them, initially in Denmark but later years in Thailand and Singapore, and import the goods into the US. Most notably was their inaugural partnership with well-known Danish designer, Jens Quistgaard who became Dansk's Chief Designer. Over his three decades at Dansk, Quistgaard would design over 2,000 products that would make Dansk synonymous with "Danish modern design".
Teak makes an ideal wood for housewares and kitchenwares that get used regularly because of its innate resistance to water, disease, and pests. While it still needs to be cared for, it will not mold or rot as quickly as other wood species. It's also a quite tough wood for its density, making it both light and durable. Unfortunately, the mid-century teak craze and the poor harvesting practices of the time nearly devastated teak populations in some countries and devastated most of the old growth forests. Today, it has become significantly more expensive to use teak as a natural resource, making teak houseware products in less abundance and more difficult to obtain as time moves on.
This teak bread cutting board is a great kitchen tool to have if the idea of fresh baked bread or slicing into a crunchy french bread baguette is the ultimate carb culinary experience. The slats in the board, while a bit challenging to clean, provide wells for crumbs to collect as you slice into that outer bread crust. If you've just taken your loaf out of the oven, there is air flow allowing the bottom to cool and not collect moisture. The board is also gentler on your knife with less surface area to dull your knife. And if you typically don't have a wood surface to slice your bread on, you run the risk of damaging that surface also should your knife slice cleanly through. How have you been living without one of these?
Dansk Teak Bread Cutting Board measures 12" X 7-3/4" X 1/2". It is in GREAT vintage used shape with only a small bit of damage to one corner where a piece of wood broke off. Once you know it is there, it is easy to spot but without that information it can be very easy to overlook.