Behind The Design | Interview With Form & Refine
4 QUESTIONS WITH FORM & REFINE
We recently welcomed Form & Refine on The Design Part and were inspired by the beautiful shapes of their furniture, the soft sustainable Alpaca throws and blankets and a design philosophy that puts sustainability, materials and good design at the forefront of their philosophy. Read on and get to know a little more about Form & Refine, Helle, Lasse and Jonas...
Lasse and his girlfriend went to South America in 2017 for six months, including three months in Bolivia. Here they met alpaca farmers and learned a lot about the culture, the craft related to alpacas and how important animals are to Bolivians. That touched them very much and reflected their perspective. At the same time we (Jonas and I, Herman Studio) met Michael here in Denmark. He owns Damsbo Forrest in Denmark and had a vision about using the high quality wood to create long lasting furniture. Knowing that managing the forest and giving the trees the best conditions for growing, wood is one of the most sustainable materials to use in the production of furniture, it was a dream for us as furniture designers to bring that story to life.
Lasse and we (Helle and Jonas) had cooperated before and after these different reflections it quickly became clear that we wanted to tell the stories in a common philosophy: In Praise of Materials. – To bring out designs that tells the story about great materials and local craft traditions. We intend to keep the production near the sources in order to take care of the environment and because we truly believe that the most skilled craftsmen to handle the production of our products is best found in the nation of origin of the materials.
"we wanted to tell the stories in a common philosophy: In Praise of Materials. – To bring out designs that tells the story about great materials and local craft traditions"
It might be different if you ask Jonas or Lasse, but from my perspective the passion started with a fascination of creating. The ability to create and form your own. During education and working with design it turn into be a fascination of the process.
We believe that creating products with respect for the materials and details requires care and patience. In a world where keeping momentum and speed are key, we greatly appreciate slowing down the pace and pay attention to the details whenever possible. That is especially why we love our product development processes in our internal design studio (Herman Studio). Here, we can indulge completely into the creative process and be fully present only with that. It requires our full attention to develop new products – both mentally and physically. Our gut feeling tells us clearly in which direction we should go.
The creative process often starts with a functional starting point. We sketch on many ideas through the process and always slept a night and re-evaluated it. The gut feeling must feel right, and it should feel just as good the next morning. That being said it is not a coincidence and just a good feeling how the design is born, it is a long design process with many sketches, mock-ups, prototypes and 3d prints, all tools that we have and can handle in the studio.
For us these steps are important in order to create long-lasting furniture. One would say that the process never ends, since the products keep on developing on their own.
"In a world where keeping momentum and speed are key, we greatly appreciate slowing down the pace and pay attention to the details whenever possible"
Inspiration can come from many places, example it can be a functionality or detail on old furniture. Technics or constructions from other elements.
We always set up design obstructions in the beginning of the design process. Obstructions inspire us and is not a limitation. Right now, we work with a specific form but in different scales, so the same shape is repeated in one object, but in different scales.
Thank you to Helle for taking the time to help us get to know a little more about Form & Refine!
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