What’s the weirdest object you own?
A clay sculpture of a dead dog. I own a lot of weird things that I can’t seem to throw out or give away. But it’s important to have them to instill a sense of home.
To what extent do you adhere to Danish design principles?
I have a very simple approach to things—a simple language—and look a lot at the past. There’s something that’s been lost to a very generalized way of doing things in Denmark. The use of color was so vivid if you look at some of the houses from the ’40s or ’60s. That’s something that I draw inspiration from.
Is that also why you decided to recently collaborate with Danish heritage brand Brdr. Krüger?
Definitely—the Arv collection is inspired by Danish craftsmanship, and Brdr. Krüger is one of the oldest woodturning companies in the country. We didn’t want to outsource to a large company—we wanted to work with a smaller one that actually had internal production. Brdr. Krüger’s workshop is dedicated to handicraft and had done Wallpaper* Handmade at the Salone del Mobile a few years ago, so it was the perfect fit.
The Arv collection was produced as part of your interiors for Noma—one of the world’s best restaurants. What was the design process like?
We spent a lot of time in the studio looking at chairs with René Redzepi [chef and co-owner of Noma], trying to find the right style. There was always something wrong—the seat was too high, or it was too old, or too iconic. Eventually, I had collected so much knowledge on what was a yes or no from René that designing the chair went really quickly. I think we did it all within two weeks. When we had one week to do the first prototype, Brdr. Krüger was super up for it. The chairs are inspired by some of the old classics but taken into a completely modern context.
