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Montaag’s designs aim to be functional as well as eye-catching.
Norwegian minimalist design meets American playfulness Based in the Norwegian cities of Oslo and Stavanger, as well as in Berkeley in San Francisco, California, the multidisciplinary design studio Montaag is changing the world around you one piece at a time. From office building entrances to restaurants and art exhibitions, they aim to give ordinary buildings character and identity in ever-expanding cities. By Alyssa Nilsen
If you have ever been to the BIT restaurant at Oslo Airport or the new shop at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, or you have used the beautiful escalator at the Arkaden mall in Skien, you will have been fortunate enough to enjoy the designs of Norwegian-American design studio Montaag Oslo. Montaag, one of the top creative agencies in Norway, was founded by Norwegian car designer Per Ivar Selvaag in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, in 2013. Since then, two 20 | Issue 112 | May 2018
Norwegian offices have been added to the company, each working within their own field of expertise. The Oslo branch specialises in architecture, lighting design and industrial design, and CEO and partner Karoline Sandnes Bommen says that the mindsets of the two countries play integral parts in Montaag’s design. It benefits from Scandinavian minimalism and natural materials such as wood, concrete, and cork, as well as American playfulness
and the courage to think outside the box and to explore and expand boundaries. They have also adopted the Silicon Valley mentality of always keeping up-todate on new technology and materials, as well as the American way of thinking that everything is possible. No task is too difficult and no problem is so big that it cannot be solved. “We’ve just designed a stove for Nordpeis, called ME, which will be the first ever wood-fired stove that’s resting on a glass base,” she mentions as an example. “Everybody thought it would be impossible, but we decided to explore the idea, and it worked.” Sandnes Bommen says that Montaag’s job is essentially problem-solving. The task every day is to find solutions to complex problems and challenges. Clients