CHRISTENING TREE

In Kokkedal

We are seated at the dining table in Akiko and Ken’s 1970s villa in Kokkedal north of Copenhagen. Behind their private home I glimpse a beautiful annex that houses their joint studio.

Akiko serves tea and Ken’s homemade apple chips.

Everything is beautiful and neat.

The oak used to make the christening tree for Odense Cathedral comes from Eskjær Manor in Salling near the Limfjorden inlet.
In 2013, the storm ‘Bodil’ knocked over several 150-year-old trees.
Close to Salling, in Oddense (not to be confused with Odense), which is Ken’s hometown, lies Træmuseet (the Wood Museum), which organizes a number of activities, including recurring wood sculpture symposiums for sculptors and wood turners.
In 2014, the oak that fell during the storm was used as the raw material in such a symposium. 
When the symposium was over, there were two logs left over, which were cut up and air-dried before they eventually ended up in Ken and Akiko’s studio, where they were processed and resurrected as the christening tree for Odense Cathedral.

Is this a typical back story for your material, I wonder.

‘We produce proving baskets for GØTZ Bread Projects, owned by chef and sourdough baker Jesper Gøtz, who has a bakery and a baking school in Raadvad, right next door to weaver Karin Carlander’s studio. For the Gøtz project, we use Kalmar pine, because it is important to Jesper that we use Nordic timber,’ says Ken. ‘Our smaller utilitarian objects require very little material,’ he explains and turns to Akiko: ‘Your jewellery boxes, for example, they’re mainly made from offcuts from PP Møbler. They would have ended up as firewood if I hadn’t taken them home. Our biggest challenge in terms of material is that we tend to hoard, so we risk running out of room. It makes no sense to rent a container to store discarded wood, so with that in mind, we have to accept that some of our scraps end up in the firewood basket.’ Akiko comments, ‘It feels natural to use local wood types. On the other hand, if a design calls for a different wood type, having the object turn out the way I want is a higher priority than using local wood.’

Working together

‘I have many years’ experience as a cabinetmaker, and Akiko has the design insight. That broad scope makes us independent and means that we can make whatever we like, without needing to ask anyone’s permission,’ says Ken, and Akiko agrees: ‘Your design education took place in the workshop, you have a good physical understanding of form.’Ken adds, ‘I grew up in Salling, I spent my some of my early years in my grandfather’s cabinetmaking workshop, which was just one among many in the area. I started going along to furniture shows when I was a boy, and I was just ten when I signed up for an apprenticeship at PP Møbler.’

The couple met in 2004, while Akiko was studying furniture design at Aarhus School of Architecture. She already had a BA in traditional Japanese architecture from Tokyo and four years’ work experience from a cabinetmaking workshop, also in Tokyo.
The workshop regularly accepted Danish cabinetmakers on temporary stays. One of them was designer and cabinetmaker Rasmus Fenhann, who became a friend of theirs. While Akiko was working in the workshop, her Japanese master’s son went to Denmark to study Danish furniture classics and returned with enthusiastic stories of the place.
These encounters increased Akiko’s interest in Danish design.
When she decided to go to Aarhus in 2004, her goal was to study first-hand not just what Danish design looks like and how it is made but also how Danes live with design.

‘When I had completed my studies at Aarhus School of Architecture, I moved to Copenhagen to live with Ken. I spent a few years learning Danish, and I applied for traineeships. I expected to work as a designer,’ says Akiko. ‘Among other places, I spent six months in Cecilie Manz’s studio, where I learned a lot. I admire her respect for craftsmanship as a condition for industrial design.’

‘At the time, I had no intention of establishing my own studio,’ says Ken. ‘I was happy to have a job and to have free time. We established the company because Akiko didn’t find a job. We started on a small scale. Everyone who works at PP Møbler (mentioned in bookazine 6) has a key to the workshop, and using it in one’s free time is both allowed and approved. At the time, I was working full-time as a cabinetmaker.’ Akiko adds, ‘I was helping out in the workshop, doing odd jobs, it is nice to be able to contribute.’

Everyday life

Since 2010, Akiko Ken Made has been based in Kokkedal.

Akiko has long since stopped going to the furniture factory, they both have plenty of work in their own studio.
Ken, on the other hand, only recently chose to leave his day job. Initially, he reduced his time at PP Møbler to three days a week and spent the rest of his time in their joint company. Next, he changed his hours at PP Møbler to two days a week …
‘Now the days have found a natural rhythm. We get up, walk the dog, work, have breakfast when we’re hungry, continue working until we’re tired, have dinner, and often we end up sketching, outlining ideas for new products at the dining table. Often, we also work through the weekend,’ says Ken, clearly content.

What has it been like for you to get a foothold in Denmark, I ask Akiko. She replies that she finds it interesting to work in Denmark, because it gives her an opportunity to learn about Danish culture. She says that she sees many other friends, other craft makers as well as friends in entirely different fields of work. ‘It has made a big difference for your sense of belonging here that you are a practising Buddhist, so that you have your own circle of people,’ Ken comments. Akiko confirms his observation and says about her faith, ‘In Buddhism, enlightenment is not some mysterious state. Instead, it is a state that is present in all life, a state full of wisdom, vitality and compassion. It means that the individual person can shape their own fate and find contentment in everyday activities, and through this we can come to grasp the meaning of being alive.’
Do you practise Buddhism, I ask Ken. He does not, he is not spiritual, he says, although he lives in accordance with Buddhist principles.

‘Another interface is our clients. In recent years, we have developed many of our products in collaboration with chefs. I enjoy that,’ says Akiko. ‘The best outcome is when we can touch the materials while we talk.’ Ken adds, ‘Most of the restaurants we work with are Michelin restaurants. They have the same high professional standards that we have, so we experience a fundamental and mutual respect.’
Ken comments that they mostly mention the restaurants because they have recently had many commissions in this field, but that they also really appreciate working for private customers and shops and creating objects for exhibitions.
The furniture is a different story. ‘We would like to reach a wider audience with our furniture,’ says Ken and makes it clear that this is one of the reasons why he is now committing full-time to Akiko Ken Made.

Until now, the couple have created furniture exclusively for exhibitions, in part in collaboration with Galerie Maria Wettergren in Paris and in part for the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition in Copenhagen, for which they annually develop a piece of furniture based on a specific theme. ‘It’s great to be given a theme,’ says Akiko, ‘that challenges us to be innovative.’ She proudly presents an early version of a small table that will be presented at the upcoming Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition.

I ask whether they consider it prestigious to be a part of the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition.
Akiko looks at me as if she does not grasp the meaning of the word ‘prestige’.

Ken expands on my question for Akiko and ends up answering it himself: ‘We do what we do because we can’t resist.’Akiko adds, ‘The exhibitions help us build a network. What is meaningful is not simply to make objects for our own sake but because others can enjoy what we make.’