Povl Eskildsen

Povl began gathering furniture design & production knowledge over two decades ago whilst working in his father's furniture factory. Having furthered a significantly 'hands-on' early interest in furniture design, Povl studied and graduated in furniture design from the School of Architecture in Aarhus, Denmark in 1986.

His first meeting with Gloster was during a furniture fair in Copenhagen in 1992 where he presented the iconic Weston Folding Chair. Unlike other folding chairs of the time, Povl had designed the Weston with innovative lumbar support in the back and using a different folding principle, to keep the front of the seat visible when folded and with a simple, integrated handle used for folding and carry the chair.

Following the success of Weston, in 1995 Povl went on to add the Madison collection - the first step towards the low, lounge type seating so evident today and collected an award from the British Furniture Industry in 1996. In the same year Povl designed Kingston - one of the first truly comfortable and practical outdoor teak dining chars. The idea was to make a lightweight arm chair that both saved teak and also allowed people to easily move the chair around. With only a minor correction on the prototype, the collection went into production and became an instant success.

Using a design language of classic Scandinavian inspiration with a contemporary twist, Povl has gone on to design many other collections for Gloster in both teak and mixed materials. Povl's ability to incorporate exceptional comfort into his designs without compromising the visual aesthetic, marks him out amongst his peers and further iconic collections such as Dansk, Maze and Havana have continued his legacy into the new millennium.