Background
Nierenberg was born on May 20, 1923, and majored in engineering management Pittsburgh"s Carnegie Institute of Technology, earning a bachelor of science degree in 1944.
artist designer business executive
Nierenberg was born on May 20, 1923, and majored in engineering management Pittsburgh"s Carnegie Institute of Technology, earning a bachelor of science degree in 1944.
Carnegie Mellon University.
After graduation, he worked in the family business that manufactured metal nameplates for appliances. On a trip to Europe in May 1954, Nierenberg visited a museum in Copenhagen, where he saw a set of unique cutlery on display that combined teak handles and stainless steel, created by artist and industrial designer Jens Harald Quistgaard. Nierenberg tracked down Quistgaard and spoke with him in an effort to convince him to manufacture the cutlery, but Quistgaard insisted that the pieces could only be forged by hand, one piece at a time.
Nierenberg was able to convince Quistgaard that the pieces could be mass-produced, leading to Dansk International Design"s first product, the Fjord line, which has been one of the firm"s enduring bestsellers.
By 1956, Nierenberg wasn"t certain that American consumers were ready for the spare styling and brought some early samples of stainless steel flatware with sinuous carved wooden handles to a Manhattan store, and was so surprised that the company bought several hundred units on the spot that he almost walked in front of a bus driving down the street. Dansk relocated to Mount Kisco, New York and was known for its sleek, functional products often made of exotic woods such as teak, combined with enameled metal and stainless steel.
Dansk was purchased in June 1985 by Dansk Acquisition Corporation in a deal initiated by Goldman Sachs. His woodland garden and its Japanese maples, was described by The New York Times as being "widely considered among the finest gardens in the Hudson Valley".
The Beckoning Path: Lessons of a Lifelong Garden, a book of Nierenberg"s photographs of his gardens, was published by Aperture Press in 1993.
Nierenberg died at age 86 on July 31, 2009, due to pancreatic cancer at his home in Armonk, New New York