Christian Flensted (1920-1994) was a Danish a Danish designer and entrepreneur.
He was the son of publisher, Knud Flensted, who ran the publishing house Flensted's Forlag (Flensted's Publishing House) where he, among other things, published H.C. Andersen's fairy tales. Christian started his education in the family business as a publishing editor, but moved on to work as an advertising agent.
He married Grethe Flensted in 1949. Their honeymoon was a trip to the United States - where they were hired as agents for the Danish gymnastics team "Flik Flak Flensted" and were to book all shows for their upcoming tour in the U.S. On their travels abroad, Christian and Grethe were very inspired by the American spirit and the entrepreneurial mindset. During their honeymoon in the U.S., their son Ole had been "founded" and coming home Christian and Grethe wanted a simple life. They wanted to be self-sufficient by making a large vegetable garden, but they would need some sort of "side-job" to make their life work. Through his time as an advertising agent, Christian had been deeply involved in design, and back home in Denmark, he started delving deeper into the old Danish tradition of making straw-mobiles to hang over a child's cradle; a tradition meant to chase off bad spirits from the baby.
In 1953, in the occasion of the baptism of his second child, Mette Flensted, Christian cut out three paper storks and hung them in two pieces of straw. This became the starting point for the company Flensted Mobiles, founded in 1954. Hanne Flensted, the third child in their household arrived in 1958 and with her, and the growth of the family company, the Flensteds needed more space. Eventually, the choice landed on the old school Frederiksminde, that has since been the epicenter of Flensted Mobiles; a company that to this day makes mobiles to spread movement and balance around the world.
Christian has not only designed mobiles, but is also a sculptor, having designed Thought Flight, now exhibited in the Danish city Ringe.
