Made in Norway

When is a chair not a chair? When it is inspired by an orange peel. For decades, Scandinavian product design was more about Sweden and Denmark stealing the thunder from Norway.

Trends have changed in recent years, with the country now grabbing the attention of design aficionados. "When it comes to modern furniture, Peter Opsvik is one of the most influential names — not just in Norway but also Europe. His TripTrap chair for children sold in record numbers because of its ergonomic and intuitive design. He also changed the way we use furniture, with products such as Gravity and Balans that put movement into seating," says designer Hallgeir Homstvedt in an interview with GN Focus (page 33). He is one of the chosen ones at the 100% Norway exhibition this year, joining a celebrated list of Nordic designers including Vibeke Skar, Ida Noemi Vidal, and Martin Solem.

100% Norway is part of the London Design Festival (September 22-25, 2011), organised by the Embassy of Norway in London, the Foreign Ministry of Norway, the Norwegian Design Council and the Association of the Norwegian Furniture Industry and Innovation Norway. Last year, Eva, a unique chair launched at 100% Norway, grabbed the limelight. It was designed by Anderssen & Voll for manufacturer LK Hjelle.

Other young guns include AWAA (Øyvind Wyller, Simen Aarseth and Christoffer Angell (page 34), Daniel Rybakken, Sarah Wright Polmar and Kim Thome. Other design lists feature Bjørn Blikstad (watch out for his 3-D storage solutions) and Jens Olav Hetland.

Prolific Norwegian and international designers are also expected at Designers Saturday, which marks its 25th anniversary this year in Norway (38 showrooms in Oslo are taking part on September 3 and 4). The idea was dreamt up by industry insiders who brought the concept over from New York in 1986, say event organisers.

Product: The Peel Chair (2002)and still a bestseller

The designer: Olav Eldøy studied at the National College of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway (1973). Varier commissioned him to do this piece in 2002, after a year of sketches and prototypes.

The design: "The concept was based on the organic shape of a falling orange peel," says Eldøy. "The orange skin protects its content. This is also the intent of the chair's shape — to protect and embrace the user. It has been said that the design is 98 per cent common sense. But the difference is found in the remaining two per cent, which has the magic to add something extra to our lives."

What's in a name? "Once the shape evolved, we could call it nothing but Peel," says Eldøy.

Materials: Round wooden base with a variety of fabric and leather finishes. �

Product: Peggy

The designer: Sara Wright Polmar is 28 years old and lives in Oslo. She will finish her BA in Furniture Design at Oslo National Academy of the Arts this summer.

The design: "Peggy was designed to be a part of ‘Norwegian Prototypes', an exhibition at London Design Festival 2010," says Polmar. "We were given a specific brief — our products had to fit inside an airplane hand luggage. Working with the brief and its size limitations was fun and forced me to look at dimensioning and construction differently. I wished to work with smaller parts that could be put together to create a bigger whole, with elements that in some way could be constructed or adjusted by the user. By inserting oak pegs of various lengths and colours through a board that is then hung on the wall, the user can create different functions and visual expressions. The pegs can be used as clothing hooks, holders for keys, mail or books, or as brackets for wood or textile shelves."

What's in a name? Peggy was inspired by Pound-A-Peg-toys for children.

Materials: Oak wood

Product: The Topp Lamp

The designer: Hallgeir Homstvedt is a product and furniture designer based in Oslo. After completing his degree in 2006, Hallgeir worked at the design studio of Norway Says for three years before opening his own studio in 2009. He has been exhibiting in London, Tokyo, Oslo and Milan, and is currently working with Norwegian and international furniture manufacturers.

The design: The Topp lamp draws its inspiration from two distinctive silhouettes: the classic ‘Atollo' lamp by Viso Magistretti and a graphic arrow. It has been designed for Established & Sons.

What's in a name? Topp is the Norwegian spelling of Top and refers to the visual characteristics of the lamp.

Materials: The foot is made from cast in resin, the top, spun aluminium with a frosted glass diffuser. "As a product designer, I don't have one favourite material, but try to find the materials and technique suitable for the object I work on. This process of learning about new materials and production methods is what I enjoy most about design. For example, in some of my latest projects, I designed lighting where textiles and leather are the object's structural components."

Product: Figgjo Flyt

The designer: Jens Olav Hetland did masters in Industrial Design at the Architectural College, Oslo. In 1998, he started working at Figgjo where he continued until 2006. He then opened his own design studio Slip. The designer has won several Norwegian and international design Awards, said Figgjo.

The design: The surface is flowing and almost free; yet within tight rectangular framing. The designer has played with a strict frame, which enhances the food with the waves design so subtly that it can be difficult to read the form without looking at the product from the side. But place the food and the product shows its curvature and beautiful reflections. Figgjo Flyt is a product from the Figgjo Front collection, which has become a reference range for chefs.

What's in a name? Figgjo Flyt refers to the floating surface. In Norwegian, Flyt means floating.

Materials: Vitrous porcelain, a porcelain mass that is reinforced with aluminium oxide; thus very strong and resistant to the harsh use of a professional kitchen.

Product: Handle Me (2011)

The designers: AWAA is a collaboration of Simen Aarseth, Christoffer Angell and Øyvind Wyller. The product designers have been together since completing their masters in design at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway. They participated in various events including the ICFF Studio, New York, the Salone Satellite, Milan, and Meet My Project, Paris, in 2011.

The design: "Cookware has been an essential tool of basic human survival since the beginning of civilisation; falling into the same category as the wheel and stone axe. We wished to celebrate the simplicity of the traditional casserole by designing a contemporary version," says Angell.

"We would like to reconnect the user to the process of cooking instead of reducing him/her to a passive spectator who mindlessly pushes buttons. The dowel handle provides an ergonomic power grip while contributing to the concept of cookware as ‘tools'."

What's in a name? The ergonomic power grip of the dowel handle — an essential part of the design. It gives the product its distinct character.

Materials: Cast iron and solid oak wood.

Product: The Light Tray (2011)

The designers: Daniel Rybakken (left) and Andreas Engesvik. Rybakken grew up in Oslo and studied design at the Oslo School of Architecture and the School of Arts and Craft in Gothenburg, Sweden. On graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in 2008, he opened design studios in Oslo and in Gothenburg. Awards won include the ‘Best of the Best' Red Dot Award in Singapore, 2007 and the Design Report Award for best designer at Salone Satellite in Milan, 2009. Rybakken's works occupy the area between art and design, forming limited editions, art installations and prototypes for serial production. Engesvik studied design at the National College of Art and Design in Bergen, Norway. Graduating in 2000 with honours, he went solo in 2009 and founded his new studio AndreasEngesvik, in Oslo.

The design: The Light Tray tries to simplify the traditional lamp. The tray is an artificial plane that obscures the source of power. The bulbs are sheathed in hand-blown glass, which can be reconfigured to shift the intensity of light.

What's in a name? Aptly describes the product

Materials: Hand blown glass, powder-coated aluminium, 2700°K light source.