Fold Oslo designers look to the future of furniture in Ny Normal exhibition

In the context of the coronavirus pandemic and the environmental disaster, 6 Oslo-centered designers existing household furniture types that anticipate a additional beneficial future.


Ny Normal is an exhibition of new is effective from Fold Oslo, a collective built up of designers Vilde Hagelund, Sovei Giæver, Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng, Poppy Lawman, Tobias Berg and Kathrine Hovind.

Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
Ny Standard functions the do the job of six Oslo-primarily based designers

All 6 designers have taken one particular of their past models and advanced it further, developing a model they feel is far more suited to “our new ordinary”.

“The objects in the exhibition have formulated alongside our present around the world norm, intertwining outdated conversations into new interpretations,” spelled out Poppy Lawman.

Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
All 6 designers have more formulated just one of their past projects

“We are not on your own, we feel in scrutinising the standing quo,” she informed Dezeen. “We see numerous browsing for new approaches to use to our newly opened up environment.”

“It is time for all to seize this uncommon minute and make an unparalleled reset.”

Papirstein Stol paper and steel lounge chair by Poppy Lawman at Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
Poppy Lawman’s Papirstein Stol is a lounge chair partly created from compressed paper pulp

Lawman’s contribution is a lounge chair built from “papirstein”, a purely natural and biodegradable substance she created by compressing paper pulp.

Previously the designer utilised this materials to generate a stool, which highlighted in the Norwegian Existence showcase in 2020. In this hottest iteration, it becomes the seat and backrest of a steel-framed chair.

Viride dining chair and dining table by Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng at Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
Trees motivated the Viride dining desk and chair by Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng

Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng offers a dining table and chair, equally sculpted from ash wood, at the Ny Ordinary exhibition.

Supposed to obstacle the linearity of modern-day home furnishings, her types have a knobbly type based mostly on the shapes of tree branches and roots.

Kvarv pine lounge chair by Kathrine Hovind at Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
Kathrine Hovind’s Kvarv chair is designed to glance like wood logs

Kathrine Hovind has made a chair that celebrates a Norwegian building technique named lafting, which utilises strong tree logs.

Picket cylinders kind the legs, sides and backrest of the layout, termed Kvarv.

Armarium cabinet by Vilde Hagelund at Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
Vilde Hagelund hand-carved birch wooden to give texture to her Armarium cabinet

Another designer doing the job in wooden is Vilde Hagelund. Her structure, referred to as Armarium, is a hand-carved birch cupboard with intricate details that exaggerate the organic texture of the content.

Tobias Berg‘s design and style is a facet table supported by overlapping surfaces with playfully curved cutouts, while Sovei Giæver has intended a geometric pine bench with an accompanying blue storage box.

Aspekt side table by Tobias Berg at Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
Curved cutaways give an strange variety to Tobias Berg’s Aspekt facet table

Ny Ordinary is the next exhibition that Fold Oslo has staged.

The 6 designers initially arrived jointly as a collective for a exhibit at Stockholm Design and style Week in 2020.

“Our collective grew from shared commonalities,” stated Lawman.

“We share a appreciate of raw materials and explorative techniques, and an attraction to totally clear and unusually curious varieties.”

Pir bench and box by Sovei Giæver at Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
Sovei Giæver’s Pir is a pine bench with an accompanying blue box

At a time when couple designers have been capable to showcase their work to the community, owing to the cancellation of numerous design fairs and exhibitions, the team getting section in Ny Typical have identified energy in quantities.

“The pandemic has halted considerably of the conventional design marketplace retailers that earlier have been main platforms for our do the job,” reported Lawman.

Viride dining chair by Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng at Ny Normal exhibition by Fold Oslo
The layouts debuted in an exhibition at Gallery Sorgenfri in Oslo

“Now we have been wanting for new methods to carry our tips to kind, new sites to showcase in, and new strategies of approaching design and style objects,” she ongoing.

“Collectively we have supported one one more in discovering our way in layout, to uncover our voices as designers, and to support those voices come across type in form, material, and purpose.”

Designers at the Ukurant Views exhibit at 3 Days of Design and style also seemed at innovative materials use, even though ÉCAL college students teamed up with Muji to develop compact, house-saving furniture.


Ny Usual was on demonstrate at Gallery Sorgenfri from 10 to 12 September 2021. See Dezeen Functions Guide for an up-to-day listing of architecture and design occasions taking location close to the globe.