New design finds | March 2024

As always, the start of a new month means it’s time for my regular round-up of design finds, and February’s trade fairs and design weeks mean I have plenty of beautiful launches to share with you this time around. So, read on for details of versatile furniture and lighting, new twists on existing favourites, a Danish design classic that’s about to be reintroduced, and two pieces created with sustainability at their very core…

‘Mat’ – a chair collection made from hemp & seaweed

First up is Danish brand Normann Copenhagen, which is pushing the boundaries of innovation and sustainability with its new ‘Mat’ chair collection. Created by design studio Foersom & Hiort-Lorenzen, it features shells made from 75% hemp – a rapidly renewable, CO2-negative crop – and a type of seaweed called eelgrass. Not only do the material choices lower the environmental impact of the chairs considerably, they also play a key aesthetic role as the natural beauty and tactility of the individual fibres are highlighted and celebrated. What’s more, the chairs are designed for easy disassembly and recycling, ensuring individual components can be reused as part of a fully circular lifecycle.

The ‘Mat’ collection features two dining chairs, together with bar stools, bar chairs and bar armchairs in two different heights. All are available with black or cream steel legs and optional front or full upholstery, and prices start at £295 / €335.

A recycled plastic stool / side table from TYPO

There’s also a great example of sustainable design from TYPO, a new venture founded by Alex Swain of former furniture brand ByALEX. TYPO aims to collaborate with various specialists to tackle waste in the design industry and its first product is ‘Replica’, a small multi-functional side table / stool made from 100% recycled plastic, including yoghurt pots. It was developed in conjunction with Wales-based Smile Plastics and uses no glues or resins, meaning it’s fully recyclable at the end of its life. It has a simple yet striking silhouette, and fragments of yoghurt-lid labels are visible on the surface, giving an off-white marble effect with a contemporary twist. Like all future TYPO pieces, ‘Replica’ is made to order in limited-edition batch runs, eliminating overproduction and reducing supply-chain waste, and is flat-packed to lower transport emissions. It’s available for pre-order now and costs £399, with the option of adding a cushion made from recycled plastic by family-run Cheshire textile workshop Colours of Arley.

New-season additions from Audo Copenhagen

The always-inspiring Audo Copenhagen has just unveiled an array of new designs, all with a focus on versatility and materiality. Several showcase the qualities of metal, including New Zealand designer Ted Synnott’s aluminium ‘Volume’ side table, which offsets a distinctive rough surface with sculptural curves. There’s also a brushed stainless-steel version of Norwegian architect Danielle Siggerud’s ‘Androgyne’ side table, which can be used on its own or with the series’ existing tabletop options, plus a new bronzed-brass finish for Colin King’s already-iconic ‘Interconnect’ candleholder.

Other additions come from Copenhagen-based studio Krøyer-Sætter-Lassen, including a wall-hung desk for the existing ‘Corbel’ series and a cushioned pouf, an upholstered stool and a walnut lounge table for the ‘Passage’ family. My personal favourite, though, is their ‘Tubulaire’ lighting collection, which is shaped from bronzed and reeded aluminium. Fusing industrial aesthetics with modern elegance, it includes single pendants, chandelier arrangements, lighting rails and canopy lighting, all engineered with durability in mind and suitable for a wide range of commercial and private settings.

All the new pieces are available now via Audo Copenhagen’s webshop and retail partners worldwide.

Adaptable lighting from New Works

The latest lighting launch from New Works is ‘Nebra’, which I saw in prototype form at the brand’s Copenhagen showroom during last year’s 3 Days of Design. Created by German designer Lukas Bazle, the series blends classic pleats with an interactive mechanism that allows users to transform the direction and shape of the shade in seconds – a very clever and expressive concept that’s perfectly suited to today’s multifunctional spaces. There are two sizes of pendant (40cm and 50cm diameters) plus a wall lamp, each of which can form a sleek cylinder or a Japanese-inspired cone that points upwards or downwards. All are made from a paper-like yet very durable PES textile, which on the pendant versions is offset by a discreet black cord and rod. They’re available now, with the smaller pendant priced at £565 / €659, the larger one at £675 / €789 and the wall lamp at £282 / €329.

A relaunched Kaare Klint classic from Fredericia

Sticking with Danish brands, Fredericia is celebrating 100 years since legendary architect and designer Kaare Klint founded his furniture school at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts by reintroducing his oak ‘Klint’ chair. Created in 1936, it was originally known as the ‘Church’ chair due to its use in Copenhagen’s iconic Grundtvig’s Church, designed by Klint’s father Peder Vilhelm Jensen-Klint. Its simple shape and functional elegance encapsulate Denmark’s design heritage, and there are subtle references to classic English country and American Shaker furniture in the backrest and detailing. Working in close collaboration with the Klint family, Fredericia has updated the proportions of the chair to fit today’s homes and human bodies, but it otherwise stays true to Klint’s spirit. It comes in a choice of oiled, soaped and black-lacquered finishes and will be available from July, with prices starting at €705.

The versatile ‘Kumu’ chair from Nikari

Last but not least, Finnish brand Nikari has unveiled ‘Kumu’, a durable beech chair by Helsinki-based designer Pekka Koivikko. Created to celebrate the pliable beauty of Finnish wood, it features a new type of joint that enables the tops of the legs to melt into the backrest in a flowing curve. It’s a gorgeous detail on an otherwise understated piece of furniture and forms a seamless surface that can be left plain or painted in any colour (for the below images, Nikari used four hues inspired by the work of modernist Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck). It’s also stackable and is available with optional padded seat upholstery. Prices start at €749.

All photography courtesy of the respective brands