A neutral, minimalist home curated by Karakter and Ark Journal

[ad_1]

I lately went to Copenhagen for 3 Days of Design – Denmark’s yearly design and style competition showcasing the best in Scandinavian style. The function is free of charge and open to absolutely everyone – style and design fans flock to the funds to get a peek inside showrooms and galleries, and see the newest exhibitions and style and design talks. It was so good to finally be in a position to see design up close and personalized, following two several years or so mainly caught at residence many thanks to the pandemic. There is almost nothing like seeing a piece of home furniture in particular person, touching the materials with your own arms and viewing the craftsmanship in element.

A person of my favorite demonstrates of the festival was Co/Do the job by Danish structure brand name Karakter and style and design journal Ark Journal. Their exhibition, impeccably styled by Pernille Vest and set in a neutral, minimalist apartment in the city centre, focused on the interplay involving dwelling and work. Featuring new designs and relaunched classics, it offered a refined, tasteful globe that blurred the boundaries among formality and consolation.

Karakter’s home furniture has a sculptural high quality that lends itself to a inventive way of residing. The area offered could be a sculpture’s atelier, but it could also equally be an artist’s property or a collaborative do the job studio. It offers the dilemma, are Karakter’s styles a piece of art or a practical piece of home furniture? Perhaps they never need to have to be a person of the other. But alternatively this is proof that you can curate your residence like your have private art gallery, and fashion your place of work as you would at property.

All visuals Cate St Hill

I first identified Karakter through Milan Style and design Week and afterwards at 3 Days of Layout in 2018. Karakter’s ethos pairs the Scandinavian style tradition with an global outlook (they are part of the exact same firm as Italian manufacturer Cassina).

They do the job with present-day designers this kind of as Aldo Bakker and PlueerSmitt, but they also have the rights to a variety of structure icons by the likes of Bodil Kjær, Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Paul McCobb and Joe Colombo. It is this assembly of old and new that offers the brand name a timeless aesthetic that defies time intervals or developments.

For 3 Times of Design and style, in the location of this minimalist apartment, Karakter showcased the GB Lounge chair by Dutch industrial designer Gijs Bakker. Designed in 1972 and motivated by a opposition held by Dunlop, Bakker produced a cozy modular chair by bending a piece of foam and securing it with a metal frame. Very first upholstered in denim, it was initially dubbed ‘the Levi’s Chair’. Just like a pair of well worn jeans, Bakker wished to develop a calm, easygoing layout that expressed the flexibility of the Seventies.

The GB Lounge can be organized in a variety of strategies, employing connectors to transform it from a 1-seater chair to a generous numerous seating system.

The very simple strains and refined types unite Karakter’s furniture into just one family members. I like how the black frame of the GB Lounge is mirrored in the black legs of the desks, the floating black cabinets and the black activity lighting. It helps build a cohesive house that feels relaxed and controlled.

My favourite Karakter items are the TriAngle stool by Aldo Bakker, the Bronco stool by Guillaume Delvigne, and the Libreria Pensile shelves by Achille Castiglioni and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni.