The curious duo
The photographs in the article ‘Little Hands’ were taken in Dinesen’s showroom in Copenhagen. Dinesen is best known for solid ash, Douglas fir and oak flooring. In the photos you also see furniture. Functional quality furniture in solid wood created by Hans Peter Blichfeldt Dinesen and Mikkel Vestergaard, aka Design Studies. Furniture that fits equally well into a stylish minimalist setting as in the cheerful chaos of everyday life, with people of all ages. People who spill lemonade, paint outside the lines and sometimes stand on the bench instead of sitting on it! In any case, the furniture will age beautifully and gracefully, proudly bearing its traces of lived life.
The collection is new when I take the pictures, and the designers are yet to determine which colours will be available as standard options and which will be special options. In any case, it will be made of Dinesen wood at a furniture factory in Jutland and the paint will come from Linolie & Pigment (Linseed Oil & Pigment), a company based in Haderslev in southern Denmark that Design Studies has a close collaboration with. The loose cushions are upholstered with fabric from Kvadrat or leather from Sørensen Læder.
It has also been decided that the furniture will be flat-pack, to be assembled by the buyer. ‘It is a simple and rewarding experience,’ Mikkel assures me when we meet in the town of Jels to talk about Design Studies.
Design Studies founded in 2013 by the design duo Hans Peter Blichfeldt Dinesen and Mikkel Vestergaard. Design Studies is an independent company operating in a symbiotic and dynamic partnership with Dinesen
Hans Peter Blichfeldt Dinesen:
Age: 30
Education: art director from Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm
Mikkel Vestergaard:
Age: 30
Education: Design School Kolding
Dinesen has been creating bespoke solutions in wood since 1898. The company’s principal products are planks for flooring, wall lining, ceilings and furniture.
Like myself, Mikkel has been up early, driving over from Copenhagen, where he lives with his family. Hans Peter has come down from Aarhus, where he is based.
We begin with a chat over lunch in the thatched-roof farmhouse that was previously the Dinesen family’s home and thus for a time Hans Peter’s childhood home. When the family took over the property in 2005 it was gently restored under the leadership of the restoration architect Jørgen Overby. When the family moved out in 2013 and turned the farmhouse into a Dinesen showroom and a guest residence for visiting architects and other cooperation partners, it was redesigned.
It is a beautiful place, overwhelmingly beautiful in fact, but I resist the urge to sneak in my camera. Instead, I simply soak up the beauty, hospitality and gentle atmosphere of the place, as Mikkel excitedly describes his own involvement in constructing many of the bespoke solutions in the building.
The interior beautifully merges the historical setting with modern aesthetics and comforts, naturally based on Dinesen wood and supplemented with designs and objects of art by important Scandinavian artists and makers, including experimental pieces from Design Studies: a relief that has been created by sandblasting the softer wood, so only the harder strata remain; a multi-layer wooden structure; and Bricks, Design Studies’ first product for Dinesen, here in a display variant that has soaked up linseed oil paint through the cross-cut end of the piece.
We will talk more about the experiments later. First, let us get the basics in place.
Mikkel and Hans Peter have known each other for many years, ever since their first meeting on the school bus.
Later, they were both on the gymnastics team, and in their early teens they earned pocket money by stacking planks for drying in Hans Peter’s parent’s company, Dinesen.
Dinesen is a family-run company. Hans Peter’s parents, Thomas and Heidi Dinesen, took over as managers in 1989. Thomas Dinesen is fourth generation in the company, which used to be called Jels Savværk (Jels Sawmill).
‘The sawmill was a smaller and much more local company,’ Hans Peter explains, ‘and my grandfather, who was also named Hans Peter, was involved in all sorts of things. The locals used to say that whatever you couldn’t get at the local pharmacy, you could get at the sawmill.’ He shows me pictures of a log cabin built for ramblers and itinerant journeymen, the house and all its furnishings made of one, huge tree. The house was made by Hans Peter’s granddad and has since been sold. A carefully labelled bottle containing water drawn from the wood as it dried is another of Hans Peter Sr.’s initiatives, just as he initiated the museum collection of tree roots. Now, in the fourth generation, the product portfolio and the company have been streamlined – ‘that was my mother’s condition for getting involved,’ says Hans Peter.
‘We were at the farmhouse in 2010, writing applications for our respective education programmes,’ the two men recall over lunch.
Mikkel applied and was accepted into Design School Kolding; he wanted to be an industrial designer.
Hans Peter applied and was accepted into Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm; his goal was to become an art director. ‘I enjoyed my time at the school,’ says Hans Peter. ‘Stockholm is a lovely city, the teachers were dedicated, and we had a very hands-on approach with real business cases; I liked that.’
‘I wouldn’t say I was disappointed, but I wasn’t completely satisfied either,’ says Mikkel. ‘I had applied to the school in Kolding expecting many workshop courses and hoping to work in-depth with materials, but while I was there, the programme changed to become more academic and service design-oriented. In 2013, while I was still at the school in Kolding, Hans Peter returned from Stockholm. We had long talked of doing something together, something that would ultimately result in products, but which was based on an explorative, experimental approach – and now was the time to do it.’
Dinesen’s website reads,
At Dinesen we always strive to collaborate with artists, architects, designers and craftspeople with the purpose of ensuring the longest possible life for the wood that we cherish.
We seek to inspire and share our knowledge about wood, but we also seek to be inspired by others.
If you have a project and are looking for a partner or a sponsor, please fill out the form below and share your idea or project with us.
Hans Peter and Mikkel were keen to experiment, explore and inspire. They did not fill out the form but sat down with Dinesen, aka Hans Peter’s family, and decided that a collaboration was an obvious idea.
Mikkel applied for leave from Design School Kolding and has yet to return. And so, Design Studies, which is now an independent company that designs its own collections in addition to handling projects for Dinesen and external clients, took its first steps in a Dinesen partnership in 2013.
We have now finished lunch and are going from the guest residence to the sawmill.
First, we visit the big facility that is the latest new addition, added during Heidi and Thomas’s leadership.
I am shown the place by Hans Peter and Mikkel, who know every aspect of the production process. First stop is the large drying kilns, where the air is dense and intense with humidity and the scent of wood. Apropos scent: the scent of Dinesen. ‘The Norwegian artist and researcher Sissel Tolaas, who is known for her work with smells, has developed an oil for Dinesen that captures the essence of Douglas fir,’ says Hans Peter.
I have the scent, it is sitting on my desk, and I agree that it is quite unique. That collaboration and that process will have to wait for another story!
We continue through the halls where the wood is cut, planed, sanded and prepared for a specific client or for going into the storeroom.
Some years ago, Hans Peter completed basic training as a house carpenter. He mentions this when we run into a man in one of the production halls whom Hans Peter recognizes as his former teacher from the programme, who is now working in production. They are both equally surprised and pleased to see each other. Hans Peter did not know that his former teacher was working in the factory, and the employee did not know that Hans Peter was the owner’s son.
‘I learned a lot in basic training,’ says Hans Peter, ‘but we got so busy at Design Studies that I dropped out.’
After taking a look at all the processes, we go the short distance to the original sawmill, which now houses the administration, a museum with a unique collection of tree roots and unusual tree trunks, the product development workshop, which Dinesen shares with Design Studies, and last, but not least, Hans Peter and Mikkel’s studio.
You live in Aarhus, while you live in Copenhagen, how does your collaboration work in practice? I ask.
‘I split my time among several projects,’ says Hans Peter. ‘In addition to Design Studies, I am involved in the Bank of Materials, which, briefly put, makes surplus materials from quality manufacturers available to design and architecture students. I am also involved in Habeetats, beehives for wild bees designed by Jeppe Utzon and made of surplus wood from Dinesen.’
‘I put all my working hours into Design Studies,’ says Mikkel. ‘Most days, I work from Copenhagen. Thursday is always a joint working day, sometimes online, sometimes in Copenhagen, Aarhus or Jels. About every second week, I am in Jels from Thursday to Sunday. I often bring my six-year-old son. That gives him a chance to join me at work and to learn about materials and manufacturing methods through play. It’s also an opportunity for him to spend time with his grandparents, my parents, who live close to our studio.’
Hans Peter also sometimes brings his three-year-old son to work with him, although he still requires more attention and does not leave his dad much time for concentrated work.
Who does what, I wonder.
‘We both define the overall direction. We have an explorative process. We allocate working time to exploring things for the sake of exploration. By daring to embark on a process where the outcome is not known beforehand, we can pursue possibilities as they branch out into tiny twigs that may prove to be the prospects that hold the greatest potential. We both like to take an open approach, whether we are working on one of our own products, a Dinesen product or a product for an external client. Over time, we have developed an archive of material experiments in wood that we can draw on to develop concrete products, and we are gradually branching out into other materials. Right now, we are looking into resin as a material,’ Mikkel explains.
‘We maintain an ongoing conversation, and our designs develop in a dialogue. When it’s time to make the working drawings, that’s Mikkel’s department,’ says Hans Peter. ‘We both get involved in product development in the workshop. We both have the necessary basic skills, and otherwise, we can always ask for assistance.’
‘In our own product line, which you photographed, we limit ourselves to primarily using surplus wood from Dinesen’s production. Not when it comes to tabletops or the seat of a bench but all the smaller pieces, stools, table legs and so forth. That makes sense on several levels,’ says Mikkel. ‘Initially, we envisioned producing our things at the Dinesen factory, but it turned out that would be cumbersome and costly for them and for us. Instead, production has been outsourced to a local furniture factory, which makes a lot more sense. With external clients, the process varies with the product. For example, we have made a 26-metre-long cold-bent bench in four sections for the newly established conservatory at the ARoS art museum in Aarhus. During the development process we looked to the ship building tradition for inspiration and solutions and later developed our own method for bending metres-long solid wooden planks.’
In closing, I mentioned the advantage they have in not only receiving support during the start-up stage from the established family-owned company but also in both coming from families with business experience (Mikkel’s family runs a company in a different industry).
Half-jokingly, half-matter-of-factly, Hans Peter says, ‘you mean, the gravity of the responsibility?’
Humility, respect, responsibility and a playful, curious approach are terms that apply to everything I have heard, seen and experienced on this fine day.
Hans Peter Blichfeldt Dinesen:
Alder: 30 år
Uddannelse: art director fra Berghs School of Communication i Stockholm
Mikkel Vestergaard:
Alder: 30 år
Uddannelse: Designskolen Kolding
Design Studies blev etableret i 2013 af designduoen Hans Peter Blichfeldt Dinesen og Mikkel Vestergaard. Design Studies er en selvstændig virksomhed, som praktiserer i et symbiotisk og dynamisk parløb med Dinesen.
Dinesen skræddersyr løsninger i træ og har gjort det siden 1898. Deres primære produkter er planker til gulve, vægbeklædning, lofter og møbler.
Billederne i artiklen “De små hænder” er fotograferet i Dinesens showroom i København. Dinesen er mest kendt for massive gulve i ask, douglasgran og eg.
På billederne er der, blandt mange andre ting, møbler. Gedigne, funktionelle møbler i massivt træ, skabt af Hans Peter Blichfeldt Dinesen og Mikkel Vestergaard alias Design Studies. Møbler, som kan indgå i såvel en stilfuld, minimalistisk iscenesættelse som i et broget hverdagskaos af mennesker i alle aldre. Mennesker, som spilder saftevand, maler uden for rammerne med farvekridt, og som af og til står på bænken i stedet for at sidde på den! I alle tilfælde vil møblerne på smukkeste vis ældes med ynde, og der vil iboende være et vidnesbyrd om levet liv.
Kollektionen er ny, da jeg fotograferer, der er endnu ikke taget endelig stilling til, hvilke farvevarianter der skal udbydes som standard, og hvilke der er en tilvalgsmulighed. Det, som er bestemt, er, at møblerne produceres på en møbelfabrik i Jylland af træ fra Dinesen, og at farven kommer fra Haderslev-virksomheden Linolie & Pigment, som Design Studies har et nært samarbejde med. De løse hynder er betrukket med stof fra Kvadrat eller læder fra Sørensen Læder. Det er også bestemt, at møblerne leveres som ‘flad pack’; det betyder, at kunden skal lægge sidste hånd på værket selv. “Det er let og i øvrigt en god oplevelse”, bedyrer Mikkel, da vi ses i Jels for at snakke om virksomheden Design Studies og om dens særkende.
Mikkel er ligesom jeg stået tidligt op, han er kommet kørende fra København, hvor han bor med sin familie. Hans Peter er kommet fra Aarhus, hvor han har base.
Vi starter med snak og frokost på den stråtækte gård, som tidligere har været familien Dinesens hjem og dermed i en periode Hans Peters barndomshjem.
Da familien overtog ejendommen i 2005, blev den nænsomt sat i stand under ledelse af restaureringsarkitekt Jørgen Overby.
Da familien i 2013 fraflyttede, og gården overgik til at være showroom for Dinesen og gæstebolig for arkitekter og andre samarbejdspartnere, blev den re-designet.
Stedet er smukt, overvældende smukt, og jeg skal gøre mig umage for ikke at snige kameraet med ind. Men jeg gør det ikke. Jeg nøjes med at indsnuse husets skønhed, mildhed og gæstfrihed og lytte til en glad Mikkel, somfortæller, at han har været med til at bygge en lang række af de specialløsninger, som findes i huset.
Indretningen fusionerer på fineste vis de historiske rammer med moderne æstetik og komfort, naturligvis baseret på træ fra Dinesen, suppleret med design og kunstobjekter fra en lang række stærke skandinaviske aktører, herunder er der udstillet eksperimenter fra Design Studies: et relief, som har opnået sin struktur ved, at træets bløde dele er sandblæst bort, mens de hårde strukturer står tilbage, og en lagdelt træopsats, “Bricks”, Design
Studies’ første produkt for Dinesen, som i denne udstillingsvariant har suget linoliefarve op gennem endetræet.
Eksperimenterne, dem skal vi tale mere om. Men først skal vi have forudsætningerne på plads.
Mikkel og Hans Peter har kendt hinanden i mange år, de mødte hinanden i skolebussen.
Siden dyrkede de gymnastik sammen, og som store drenge tjente de deres lommepenge ved at ‘pinde træ op’ (lægge tynde pinde mellem de lange planker for at muliggøre tørring) i Hans Peters forældres virksomhed, Dinesen.
Dinesen er en familievirksomhed. Hans Peters forældre, Thomas og Heidi Dinesen, overtog ledelsen i 1989.
Thomas Dinesen er fjerde generation i det, som før ham hed Jels Savværk.
“Savværket var en mindre og meget mere lokal virksomhed”, fortæller Hans Peter, “og min farfar, som også hed Hans Peter, engagerede sig i lidt af hvert. Der var en lokal talemåde, som sagde, at det, man ikke kunne få på apoteket, det kunne man få på Jels Savværk”. Jeg får forevist billeder af et bjælkehus bygget til vandringsmænd og farende svende. Huset og dets inventar er bygget af ét og samme kæmpestore træ. Huset er farfars værk og nu solgt fra. En sirligt etiketteret flaske med vand tappet fra træ under tørringsprocessen er ligeledes et af farfars initiativer, ligesom museumssamlingen af trærødder er en samling påbegyndt under hans ledelse.
I fjerde generation er der blevet ryddet op i produktporteføljen, og virksomheden er blevet strømlinet, “det var min mors krav for at involvere sig”, fortæller Hans Peter.
“Vi sad herude på gården i 2010 og skrev ansøgninger til hver sit studie”, erindrer de over frokosten.
Mikkel søgte og kom ind på Designskolen Kolding, han ville uddanne sig til industriel designer.
Hans Peter søgte og kom ind på Berghs School of Communication i Stockholm, han ville uddanne sig til art director.
“Jeg var glad for tiden på skolen”, fortæller Hans Peter, “Stockholm er en dejlig by, underviserne var dedikerede, og vi arbejdede meget ‘hands on’ med cases fra det virkelige erhvervsliv; sådan kan jeg godt lide det.”
“Jeg var om ikke utilfreds så dog lidt uforløst”, fortæller Mikkel, “jeg havde søgt skolen i Kolding i forventning om mange værkstedsfag og i forhåbning om at komme til at fordybe mig i materialer, men undervejs ændrede uddannelsen kurs og blev mere akademisk og servicedesign-orienteret. Mens jeg stadig læste i Kolding i 2013, kom Hans Peter tilbage fra Stockholm, vi havde længe talt om at lave noget sammen, noget som på sigt skulle munde ud i produkter, men som i sit udgangspunkt var undersøgende og eksperimenterende, nu skulle det være.”
På Dinesens hjemmeside står der: Hos Dinesen bestræber vi os altid på at samarbejde med kunstnere, arkitekter, designere og håndværkere med henblik på give det træ, vi så nøje værner om, det længst mulige liv.
Vi ønsker at inspirere og dele ud af vores viden om træ – men også at lade os inspirere af andre. Hvis du har et projekt, du søger enten et samarbejde eller sponsorat til, beder vi dig udfylde nedenstående formular og dele din idé eller projekt med os.
Hans Peter og Mikkel ville gerne eksperimentere og udforske og inspirere, de udfyldte ikke formularen, men blev enige med Dinesen, alias Hans Peters familie, om at et samarbejde var oplagt.
Mikkel søgte orlov fra Designskolen og er aldrig siden vendt tilbage. Design Studies, som i dag er en selvstændig virksomhed, der designer både egne kollektioner og løser opgaver for såvel Dinesen som eksterne kunder, fik sin spæde start i Dinesen-regi i 2013.
Vi er blevet færdige med frokosten og kører fra gæsteboligen til savværket.
Først til det store og nyeste anlæg, som er kommet til under Heidi og Thomas’ ledelse. Jeg får en grundig rundvisning af Hans Peter og Mikkel, som kender produktionsprocessen ned til mindste detalje. Første stop er de store tørringsovne, hvor luften er tæt og intens af fugt og duft. Apropos duft – duften af Dinesen:
“Den norske kunstner og duftforsker Sissel Tolaas har for Dinesen udviklet en duftolie, som indkapsler essensen af douglasgranen”, fortæller Hans Peter.
Jeg har duften, den står på mit skrivebord, og jeg medgiver, at den er noget helt særligt. Det samarbejde og den proces er en anden historie!
Vi fortsætter ind gennem hallerne, hvor træet skæres, høvles, slibes og gøres klar til en specifik kunde eller til at blive lagt på lager.
Hans Peter var forbi grundforløbet på bygningssnedker-uddannelsen for nogle år siden. Det får jeg at vide, fordi vi i en af produktionshallerne løber på en mand, som Hans Peter genkender som sin lærer fra skolen, læreren er blevet ansat i produktionen. Begge bliver de overraskede og glade for gensynet, Hans Peter vidste ikke, at hans tidligere lærer var blevet ansat på fabrikken, medarbejderen vidste ikke, at Hans Peter var søn af direktøren.
“Jeg lærte meget på grundforløbet”, fortæller Hans Peter, “men så fik vi for travlt i Design Studies, og så sprang jeg fra.”
Vi har været gennem alle processer og kører den korte vej til det oprindelige Jels Savværk, som nu rummer administration, museum med en unik samling af rødder og særprægede stammer, produktudviklingsværkstedet, som Dinesen deler med Design Studies, og sidst men ikke mindst Hans Peter og Mikkels studio.
Du bor i Aarhus og du i København, hvordan ser jeres samarbejde ud i praksis? vil jeg høre. “Jeg deler min tid mellem flere projekter”, fortæller Hans Peter. “Foruden Design
Studies er jeg engageret i Bank of Materials, som kort fortalt er overskudsmaterialer fra kvalitetsproducenter, som stilles til rådighed for designstuderende og arkitektstuderende; jeg er også involveret i Habeetats, som er bistader til vilde bier tegnet af Jeppe Utzon og produceret af overskudstræ fra Dinesen.”
“Jeg lægger til gengæld al min arbejdstid i Design Studies”, siger Mikkel.
“Jeg arbejder fra København de fleste dage. Torsdag har vi altid fælles arbejdsdag, nogle gange online, andre gange i København, Aarhus eller Jels. Ca. hver anden uge er jeg i Jels torsdag, fredag, lørdag og søndag. Jeg har ofte min seksårige søn med, han får dermed lejlighed til at være med mig på arbejde og leger sig til et forhold til materialer og fremstillingsmetoder, og han får mulighed for at være sammen med sine bedsteforældre, min forældre, som bor tæt på vores studio.”
Også Hans Peter har nu og da sin treårige søn med på arbejde, selvom han endnu kræver mere hjælp og ikke levner sin far så meget koncentreret arbejdstid.
Hvem gør hvad, forhører jeg mig?
“Den overordnede linje er vi fælles om. Vores proces er undersøgende. Vi reserverer arbejdstid til at undersøge for undersøgelsens skyld. Når man tør en proces, hvor man ikke på forhånd kender målet, forgrener mulighederne sig ud i de mindste kviste, som kan vise sig at indeholde det største potentiale. Det er vigtigt for os begge at opretholde en åbensindet tilgang til ethvert projekt, hvad enten det er vores eget produkt, et produkt til Dinesen eller et produkt til en ekstern kunde. Vi har efterhånden opbygget et arkiv af materialeeksperimenter i træ, som vi kan trække på, når vi skal produktudvikle konkrete produkter, og vi breder os langsomt ud i andre materialer også; lige nu undersøger vi harpiks som materiale”, siger Mikkel.
“Vi samtaler meget, og vores designs udvikles i dialog; når der skal rentegnes, er det Mikkel”, fortæller Hans Peter, “når der skal arbejdes med produktudvikling på værkstedet, er både han og jeg i gang; vi har begge de grundlæggende færdigheder, som kræves, og kan jo ellers bede om hjælp.”
“I vores egen produktlinje, som du har fotograferet, har vi sat os det benspænd, at vi så vidt muligt skal udnytte træ, som er blevet til overs i Dinesens produktion, ikke når vi taler bordplader og toppladen på bænken, men i de mindre dele, skamler, bordben og deslige. Det giver mening på mange planer”, siger Mikkel. “Vi troede først, at vi skulle producere på Dinesen-fabrikken, men vi har måttet indse, at det er besværligt og fordyrende for både dem og os, nu er produktionen lagt ud til en lokal møbelfabrik, og det giver meget mere mening”, og han fortsætter, “i forholdet til de eksterne kunder er processen forskellig fra gang til gang, helt afhængig af hvad produktet er, vi har for eksempel lavet en 26 meter lang, formbøjet bænk i fire sektioner til det nyetablerede orangeri på ARoS Kunstmuseum i Aarhus. Under udviklingen søgte vi hjælp og inspiration i bådebyggertraditionen for siden selv at udvikle en metode til at kunne bøje meterlange, massive træplanker.”
Jeg italesætter afslutningsvis det store fortrin, de har ved ikke bare at være støttet i opstarten af den solide familievirksomhed, men også ved at de begge kommer fra familier med erfaring for at drive virksomhed (Mikkels familie driver virksomhed i en anden branche).
Hans Peter siger halvt spørgende, halvt konstaterende: “Du mener, hvilket ansvar det er at drive en virksomhed?”
Ydmyghed, respekt, ansvarsfølelse og en legende nysgerrig tilgang forener alt, hvad jeg har hørt, set og oplevetpå denne fine dag.
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TRÅDE AF TID / STRANDS OF TIME
