John Raymond Denst (1923–2009), counted his career in design collections, not years. In his four decades as chief designer at The Jack Denst Designs, Inc, he has produced 29 volumes of wall coverings, over 300 designs and also a great amount of custom work. A prolific, iconic figure in mid-century modern interior design, Jack was part of the famous Bauhaus movement in America, personally mentored by Laszlo Moholy-Nogy at the Institute of Design. His work has appeared in all major American newspapers and shelter magazines.
Jack Denst’s work is archived in the Smithsonian Museum and the Chicago Historical Society. Galleries including the Russell Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, have displayed his wall coverings as modern art. Stanford University textbooks of Art and Architecture expound his teachings of interior design through the medium of his patterns and murals. An innovator – he introduced the first free-hanging murals and silk-screened designs on steel, copper, glass and acrylic. In a field previously dominated by traditional and documentary design, Denst thrust the excitement of contemporary pattern and color, and created a demand for this bold new approach. Hotels, restaurants and homes around the world contain Denst Art Walls.
First and foremost was his responsibility to family. He funded the opening of Tabor Hill winery to one nephew and left his design empire to another. Socially, ever ready for a martini and always with a cigarette in hand, Jack’s capers were frequently featured in newspapers such as the famous Kup’s Column. A welcome patron of Chicago’s Playboy Club, his company printed the famous bunny wallpaper. At his Lincoln Park town house, there were lavish design show parties where expense was not spared. His Beverly Shores home even hosted foreign royalty.Rarely a joke teller but amazingly witty, in his later years when asked, “How are you doing Jack?” His reply “Do you know how we all have 15 minutes of fame…I’m on my last ten seconds.” This iconic mid-century modern trailblazer, Jack Denst, is still remembered today in the homes and hearts of many.
