Scan Magazine | Design Profile | ARCHITECTMADE
One of ARCHITECTMADE’s newest pieces is Hans Bunde’s Penguin. It was originally designed for his beloved sisters and will become more beautiful each year as the wood ages.
Producing buried treasures Pop into any Danish design store, and you are likely to see a stand featuring a zoo of small wooden characters as well as some elegantly simple home decorations and utilities in metal, glass and other natural materials. These beautiful objects have in common top-notch design pedigrees, high-quality craftsmanship, and a small but rapidly expanding company called ARCHITECTMADE. By Louise Older Steffensen | Photos: ARCHITECTMADE
ARCHITECTMADE was founded in 2004 by Morten Thonsgaard Jensen in an effort to bring back to life some of the forgotten musings and concepts of Denmark’s most beloved architects and designers, including Jørn Utzon, Paul Kjærholm and Finn Juhl. Kristian Vedel’s Bird and Peter Karpf’s Gemini candelabra were the first to be produced. “Some of our objects were little meticulous drawings of a thing that the architect just had to get down while working on a building or other bigger project,” 14 | Issue 112 | May 2018
CEO Maria Tsomanis explains. “Others, like Finn Juhl’s FJ Essence tea set, were projects that had to be put on hold due to their uncompromisingly simple lines and aesthetics – they were just too difficult to make at the time.” ARCHITECTMADE searches through archives, museums and other collections to recover objects deserving of new life. “Many places like the Danish Design Museum have wonderful archives full of treasures just waiting to be rediscovered. When we find something timeless
or unique, we then turn to investigating how – and whether – it can actually be produced.”
A star-studded production The people behind ARCHITECTMADE care deeply about their objects and everyone involved with creating them. “When we hit upon a new potential object, we first have to test whether putting it into production is actually feasible, of course,” Tsomanis adds. “The organic, playful forms of that Finn Juhl tea set were what caused a lot of heartache originally – just how do you make that out of porcelain? As we sit and grapple with those challenges, our research team goes on the hunt to find the people who can make that happen, no matter where they are in the world.” With their minimalist forms and essential lines, the famous Danish architects and