FINDING FORM

A visit with Chris
Halstrøm in her
Copenhagen studio

Danish designer Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm has helmed her own design studio for more than a decade, but she’s just designed her first sofa collection, Kapsel, exclusively for DWR. You’ll also find her graceful, modern designs in the new Kam Table collection, our best-selling Sommer outdoor collection and Kin Chairs.

We recently paid a visit to Halstrøm in her Copenhagen studio to see her design process at work.

Opposites attract

“I often work with contrasting words as part of my process,” says Halstrøm. “In the case of Kapsel, I decided to contrast huge fluffy cushions with a hard wood shell on the outside, containing and protecting the soft inside. The word kapsel means ‘capsule’ – it’s like a seed or cotton capsule.”

“I like to design furniture that doesn’t shout but still has a presence. Something you can keep looking at from new angles and use for years without tiring of it.” — Chris Halstrøm

Celebrating the overlooked

“I found it interesting to focus on the back and sides of the sofa, since they’re sometimes even more visible than the front, depending on the room,” notes Halstrøm of the sleek curved oak shell that wraps around the sofa. “There was a lot of work to get the dimensions of the wood frame right, so it didn’t appear too heavy, but still protective.”

Inspiration in surprising places

“For Kam, I was inspired by a traditional Japanese tsuge wood comb – or ‘kam’ in Danish. I mirrored the comb’s form, and that created the slatted surface and oval opening. I like to work with objects where a haptic sensation is embedded within it, and here the slats invite you to run your fingers through them.”