words Johanna Agerman
“In this globalised world there is a value to being local. A regional focus is very interesting to people,” says Muuto co-owner Kristian Byrge in his best PR-speak. Together with business partner Peter Bonnén he set up the design company Muuto in Denmark in 2006, focusing on producing work by Scandinavian-based designers. Two years on, their list of collaborators reads like a who’s who of contemporary northern European design, including Oslo-based Norway Says, Stockholm-based Claesson Koivisto Rune and Copenhagen-based Julien de Smedt.
In September Muuto releases seven new products at Maison Objet in Paris, five of which are previewed on this page. It’s surprising to see that Jens Fager, who showed his hand-carved wooden chairs and candelabra, Raw, at Salone Satellite earlier this year, has already got his pieces in production by Muuto.
“They are not the most straightforward pieces and Muuto have been really quick in getting them into production,” says Fager, who graduated from Stockholm’s Konstfack this spring. The other products include Norway Says’ salt and pepper grinders, Plus, in stained and lacquered beech wood whose shape is reminiscent of Ettore Sottsass’ last design, Serralunga; JDS Architect’s minimalist shelving system, Stacked, in painted MDF; and Louise Campbell’s sinuous candlestick, The More The Merrier, in rubber and steel.
