(originally appeared in Saab Magazine)
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In Denmark – a veritable fountainhead of Good Design – world-class manufacturers continue to perpetuate the notion of ideal forms through ever-growing product families. For example, the stylish yet understated Magic Ring by Regitze Overgaard for Georg Jensen elegantly wraps a wedding band around an engagement or eternity ring, while Torben Rasmussen’s new Castor sugar caster extends the already impressively comprehensive range of Stelton holloware.
Bang & Olufsen have also recently launched several new products that share a similar formal and functional clarity, and which powerfully demonstrate that televisions, audio equipment and the like do not have to produce visual clutter, but can be designed to be stylishly unobtrusive. It is this understated refinement that has historically defined Danish design and the tenor of Scandinavian lifestyle in general.
With its present oil reserves projected to run out in the not too distant future, Norway is also waking up to the economic importance of design. Its government is actively promoting and sponsoring contemporary designers’ work with a view to future export markets, including that of Johan Verde whose new Spir tableware for Figgjo marks a new level of sophistication in Norwegian design. As Verde says, “my philosophy is to work with complex simplicity” and certainly, as any designer of note will tell you, it is often the simplest solutions that are the most complex to realize.
What makes Johan Verde’s work so distinctive is the way he can take basic geometric forms and morph them into functional yet streamlined shapes that have a strong sculptural presence.
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