These vintage Arne Jacobsen desks and chairs are the perfect back-to-school inspiration

This pair of school desks and chairs popped into our inbox this week, and we couldn't help but take notice of their simplicity and beauty. We might not be in school anymore, but as summer slowly comes to an end and many start planning their rentrée, these Arne Jacobsen-designed objects represent the perfect metaphor for resuming routines, starting fresh, and finding new things to learn.

Munkegaard School desk and chair by Arne Jacobsen 

Sold by London gallery Sigmar, the compact desks feature a curved, laminated veneer top, covered in a distinctive green Formica, and a tubular metal frame. The curved design was conceived for functionality, as it allowed Jacobsen to create a small shelf under the desk. The accompanying chair, formed from a single, lightweight piece of moulded plywood, is stackable and widens at the backrest for extra comfort during a long day sitting down.

A master of midcentury Danish design and architecture, Jacobsen is perhaps best known for his chairs for Fritz Hansen, Oxford's St Catherine's College, and Copenhagen's Royal Hotel, but lesser-known projects such as the Munkegaard School, which opened in 1957, do a great job of demonstrating the architect's holistic approach to functional design.

'The Munkegaard School was a large, single-storey building in which the architecture, interiors, furniture and even outdoor planting were considered and designed by Jacobsen himself,' reads a note from Sigmar, whose founder Nina Hertig coincidentally attended the school. 'The building was split up into four wings, each connected by corridors which formed a grid-like system where each classroom looked onto its own private courtyard. The combined effect of this made a school for 850 pupils feel much more cloistered and intimate.'

Jacobsen's thoughtful designs for the school included a loudspeaker made of heat-pressed Plexiglas sheet with four embedded speakers (and later became the starting point for a collaboration with Braun), and landscaping surrounding the school in a way that allowed the children to access the outdoors from e

Four sets of the Munkegaard School desks and chairs are available from Sigmar, and a note from the gallery says: 'The desks and chairs are in very good vintage condition, with minor wear to the Formica table tops. The plywood chairs and tables have a beautiful, even patina, which will only richen over time.'