Arne Vodder was born on February the 16th 1926. His parents were Estrid and Emil Vodder, who both had a great interest in health and alternative ways of living.
Arne’s mother Estrid Vodder, was born in Nakskov, on June 24. 1897 in a town on the island Lolland in the south of Denmark. After high school Estrid moved to Copenhagen, where she studied and developed great interest in Theosophy. In 1919, 21 years old, she traveled a month with a friend to London, before heading to Berlin in 1923 to study naturopath.
Arnes parents
Arne’s father Emil Vodder, was born on the island Fanø on February 20. 1896. After high school, Emil began to study biology and medicine at the University of Copenhagen. Early during his studies he also became interested in physical medicine.
Emil had to interrupt his medical studies near the end of the 8th semester, because he caught malaria. After recuperation he was no longer allowed to complete his medical studies.
Therefore, he later studied at the University of Brussels, and in 1928 Emil Vodder received the title PhD, for his thesis on Historical Art.
Later in 1929, Emil Vodder and his wife moved to France where they continued their biological studies, and in 1936 Vodder presented his new massage method to the world as MANUAL LYMPH DRAINAGE according to Dr. VODDER, during a congress in Paris.
This form of treatment proved to be effective in curing inflammatory conditions in the human body. Emil Vodder worked for the rest of his life with this form of treatment.
Arne moves to france
When Arne was 3 years old, his parents moved to live in the South of France in an attempt to establish themselves in massage treatment and health care. Arne stayed in Denmark and was during this period cared by his paternal aunt, who had no children of her own.
.
In August 1930, Arne moved down to his parents, who had now established themselves in Cannes. In 1932 Arne started in the international school in Cannes. Arne continued for 3 years in this school where he built up bilingual skills.
Arne had an early interest in drawing
Drawings made by Arne as a 4-year-old are shown here.
Arne liked the french school and the life at the beaches
Arne and his grandfather at the beach in Cannes
But in the summers, he went to denmark
In Denmark his grandfather and aunt had now bought “Skovhuset” right in front of lake Bagsvaerd, north of Copenhagen.
Arne loved the holidays there and the free life he experienced on the lake and in the forest there by.
The family had now moved from Cannes to Paris and school houers in France was now from 8 in the morning to 6 PM inclusive lunch brake, and two houers of self studying. In Denmark school hours was from 8 in the morning to 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
So in 1936, Arne moved back to live in Denmark, leaving his parents in Paris.
Examples of the free life in Bagsværd.
Vodder’s Youth
Arne’s parents continued their work in France, but as times gradually became more uncertain, they decided in 1939 to move back to Denmark, where they then settled.
Arne finished his school in 1942 and then continued on a high school course. During this period, until the end of the Second World War, Arne was active in the resistance movement and after a while, Arne, who had always been good at drawing and painting, found that he wanted to become an architect and furniture designer – and eventually he became one too.
Vodder’s way to become an furniture designer and architect was done on his own terms, which was not quite in alignment with the Danish educational system and its requirements for exam certificates. For a period, he worked and learned in the workshop of the very respected joiner Niels Vodder, who was his father’s cousin. Under Niels Vodder’s guidance, Arne learned about the differences in materials and the joiners’s possibilities in working with design and the composition of materials. Later he joined the Danish Design Academy for several semesters, before continuing his theoretical education at the School of Interior Design, which was then led by architect and designer Finn Juhl. In 1947 he finished his studies and the same year he married Jonna Anne Ernst at the town hall in Stockholm.
After his stay in Stockholm, Vodder served a period in the military, before he was employed by Hindsgaul in their design studio. Here Arne was assigned to design shop decor. It was here at Hindsgaul, he met his later companion and friend Anton Borg, who was somewhat older than Arne.
Vodder(to the right) studying at Kunstakademiet in Copenhagen together with Hans Wegner and Børge Mogensen