Scan Magazine | Design Profile | Multiform
Founder Carsten Michelsen.
A passion for kitchens When the first Multiform kitchen, Form 1, was designed, it was based on an ambition to create a timeless, iconic kitchen to match the legacy of the great Danish designers. Three and a half decades later, the Danish kitchen specialist is still doing just that. In 2017, its latest kitchen design, Form 45, took home the international Archiproducts Design Award. Scan Magazine takes a look at what made and makes Multiform the brand it is today. By Signe Hansen | Photos: Multiform
The heart of Multiform is the workshop in Kibæk, Jutland, where 45 passionate and specialised craftsmen handcraft every one of the company’s kitchens. “We have no kitchens in stock, and we never will. We take great pride in creating timeless and iconic kitchens, and our specialised craftsmen build each new kitchen from the bottom up using classic Danish woodwork principles,” says Multiform’s CEO, Michael Oversø. “To us, every little detail counts. We know very well that design is about more than smooth lines and beautiful surfaces – it’s just as much about what’s under the surface. We sort all our wood and veneer by hand and still 12 | Issue 118 | November 2018
use dowels, dovetails, and tongue and groove. Why? Because it lasts longer.” Throughout the years, Multiform’s first classic kitchen, Form 1, has inspired a number of new designs, including Form 45 in brass, which was awarded the international design prize, the Archiproducts Design Award, last year.
It all began in a backyard in Aarhus The first chapter of Multiform’s story took place in a small carpentry in a backyard in central Aarhus. It was 1982 and Carsten Michelsen, the company’s founder, had an ambition to create a clas-
sic, iconic kitchen with architectonical values that could equal those of famous Danish designers such as Børge Mogensen, Hans Wegner, and Arne Jacobsen. The result was Form 1, an innovative, simple and timeless kitchen designed and built to last a lifetime. The strong focus on materials and quality was embedded in Michelsen through his family of proud craftsmen who, through generations, built churches, houses and furniture throughout Western Jutland. Besides this, the young Michelsen had a fondness for cooking, and through his work in the kitchen he found inspiration for his designs. “What struck him was that the kitchens of his time were lacking in innovation and quality. To him it was an essential criterion that a kitchen should be both functional and beautiful – even after many years of use – and that has been the guiding principle for Multiform ever since,” says Oversø.