An interview with the German Design Award winner Johan Kauppi

“It is incredibly pleasing and honoring that Wakufuru is awarded with Gold in such a prestigious design contest as the German Design Award. The prize is a confirmation that the care and ambition we had in the design process and in the development of the furniture is premiered internationally.

I am proud over the fact that both products Wakufuru and LimbusFloor Subtle are getting attention. Both products are designed with a special desire to build on the long tradition of woodworking and high acoustics expertise at Glimakra of Sweden. The products are tightly restrained and genuine, while incorporating a large amount of innovation. Just like the company behind the products.

The design may also possibly contain “something Nordic” that reflects my own background. The furniture is simple and clearly functional, but at the same time it is allowed to aline with a poetic thought about what the products should convey and how they should work.

In Wakufuru there was an idea of trying to recreate some of the soft sound I experience in the forest. Could you catch and lift that feeling in a room by combining solid wood and acoustics in a friendly furniture family to gather around?

Subtle is a collection of floor screens inspired by an old-fashioned trestle. The extra powerful display elements have clear and high legs of wood. Instead of thinking about small feet that should not be seen. That way, the screens got their own expression and became clear figures and furniture screens. ”

Read more about the German design Awards.

Photo: Johan Sundell