Nils Toft

Denmark

Partner and Managing Director of CBD A/S
(former Christian Bjørn Design A/S).

Nils Toft, born in Copenhagen in 1957, graduated at Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademis Arkitektskole in Copenhagen. He finished his studies in 1985 as an industrial designer, MAA MDD. In 1987, he joined CBD A/S (Christian Bjørn Design), an internationally operating design studio in Copenhagen with offices in China and Vietnam. CBD A/S is active with design in the following key fields: communication, consumer electronics, computer, agriculture, medicine and graphic arts as well as projects in design-strategy, graphic and exhibition design. Nils Toft became an associate of CBD A/S; and as managing director he runs the enterprise together with Henrik Jeppesen. The clientele includes among others Haier, Amoi, Carlsberg, Migatronic A/S, Novo Nordisk A/S, Grundfos, Wittenborg, Tekcom Danmark, Vitek Vietnam, and Saigon Cosmetics.

His achievements enjoy international credit and have received several acknowledged design awards: In the years from 1987 to 1997 he was the nine-fold winner of the ID-Prize sponsored by the Danish Society of Industrial Design, and five times winner of the Danish Design Award in the years from 2000 to 2004. In addition, CBD A/S won two European Design Prizes in 1997 and the iF product design award in 2002.

Due to his long-standing experience, Nils Toft holds several positions of trust. Supporting the efforts to harmonise EU standards he is engaged in the advisory committee for intellectual property rights and the protection and registration of design. As a jury member he supports various design competitions and is an advisor for industrial and business enterprises. At the Copenhagen Business School, the Danmarks Designskole and other design-oriented institutions such as the OHIM (Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market) he passes on his knowledge as lecturer.