Erik Magnussen was born in 1940 in Copenhagen and graduated in 1960 with a silver medal from the School of Applied Arts and Design, specializing in ceramics. He worked for a long time with BING & GRØNDAHL, and his more recent projects include furniture for FRITZ HANSEN AS, door handles for FRANZ SCHNEIDER BRAKEL GMBH, a pewter tableware series for ROYAL SELANGOR, stainless steel and plastic tableware for STELTON AS, porcelain lighting for LICHT & FORM, and furniture for PAUSTIAN AS.

Magnussen’s products are exhibited in design museums around the world. In 1967, he received the Lunning Prize, followed by the Furniture Prize in 1977. In 1983, he was named Designer of the Year by the Danish Design Council, and his work has been repeatedly recognized with ID awards from the Danish Society of Industrial Design.

In 1996, he was awarded the Bindesbøll Medal and received grants from the Ole Haslund Foundation, the Royal Jeweller A. Michelsen Foundation, and the Knud V. Engelhardt Memorial Foundation. In 1997, at the Design Innovations 1997 competition organized by Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen, he received the Red Dot Award and the Good Design Gold Prize from the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization.