Swing.
Fenri.
Evoking empathy through design Danish designer Henrik Sørig Thomsen has spent nearly three decades shaping products that marry innovation with classic minimalism. With a background in industrial design, he has moved from industry-defining electronics to universal furniture designs, creating pieces that are tactile, sustainable, and quietly expressive – inviting empathy, not just admiration. By Signe Hansen |
Photos: Sørig Design
“There’s a kind of sympathy that a piece of furniture should evoke. If you don’t feel anything for it, you shouldn’t live with it,” says Henrik Sørig Thomsen, founder of Sørig Design Studio. Along with his focus on functionality and innovation, it is this belief that forms the backbone of his work. From the sculptural, minimalistic elegance of his popular Swing chair to the nature-inspired, understated look of the new Fenri chair, Sørig’s furniture transcends function. With clients including the major Danish design furniture chain Bolia, as well as the British Joined + Jointed and the Italian seating specialist Softline, Sørig’s tactile and intuitive approach has a proven human appeal across borders. 22 | Issue 178 |
May 2025
Reinventing the wheel Sørig’s path into the design world began when he graduated as an industrial designer from the Danish School of Design in Copenhagen in 1995. “There were some scouts from Bang & Olufsen there,
and after I finished, they called and asked if I could design something. I said yes of course, and it just took off from there.” His early collaboration with Bang & Olufsen would lead to numerous highly successful electronical designs. One of the personal highlights was designing the BeoCom 6000 telephone, a design innovation born from a simple idea conceived on fishing trip. “At the time, everyone was frustrated by the technical challenge of menu navigation with limited buttons,” Sørig explains. “But one day, while I was out fishing, I just had it. The tactile feel of a fishing reel gave me the idea for a wheel-based interface, with the tactile feel and clicking sound of the fishing reel. It went on the phone, and it was a huge success.” He jokingly adds; “We reinvented the wheel.” The phone was later mentioned in a feature in the business magazine Fast Company. In the feature, an Apple insider states that when trying to find the right interface for the soon-to-be-launched