Tage Frid, 88; Danish Woodworker Taught at R.I. School of Design
Tage Frid, 88, a master woodworker who taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and wrote a well-known woodworking textbook, died May 4 at a nursing home in Newport, R.I., of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
Frid dedicated most of his 50-year career to teaching and lecturing.
Born in Copenhagen, he served a five-year apprenticeship under master craftsman Gronlund Jensen in Denmark. He immigrated to the United States in 1948 after being recruited by the American Craft Council to get the first higher-education program in fine woodworking started in the United States.
In 1962, Frid became a professor and department head of the woodworking and design program at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.
He wrote a three-volume textbook titled “Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking.” In addition, he was a contributing editor for more than 25 years to the journal Fine Woodworking, which he was also influential in starting.
Frid’s work, most of it Danish modern, is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design.
He received a lifetime achievement award from the Furniture Society and was elected a fellow of the American Craft Council in 1980.
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