TRANSFORMATION
‘Under the theme of transformation, the exhibition addresses furniture and design objects as instruments of change and challenges the boundaries of what furniture can be and become.’
Quote: The Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition 2025
October 2025
This year’s location is the award-winning Thoravej 29 in Copenhagen’s North-West district – a building that has been transformed from its original industrial purpose into a setting for ambitious people from 35 organizations engaged in art, social innovation, sustainability, democracy, digital innovation and politics.
Thoravej 29 contains workshops, project rooms, office space, audio and video studios, a black box, art studios, a café, exhibition space and an open stage.
The building was transformed at the initiative of the private foundation Bikubenfonden, which bought the 4,621-m² building in 2021. Thoravej 29 has received several prizes, including Realdania’s renovation prize Renoverprisen 2024, and is nominated for the EU’s Mies van der Rohe Awards 2026.
The stage is set
Traditionally, the furniture presented in the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition is created in close collaboration between a designer and a manufacturer – a mutually respectful partnership that has repeatedly resulted in prototypes being further developed and put into production.
Although I do not have specific data to back this up, it seems to me that a growing number of contributors are handling both design and production on their own. Several exhibitors are also showing furniture-like pieces that are more like objects of art than actual furniture.
Examples include:
- Weaver Karin Carlander (designer and manufacturer): Alice, made of excess materials from her textile production.
- Jeremy Walton (designer and manufacturer): stool with beaded top titled Crafts on Prescription, 20 minutes, twice a day.
- Ditte Hammerstrøm (designer and manufacturer): Outline, a stool made using the craft technique orkis (also known as tatting).
- Claydies (designer and manufacturer): Fired Clay, a piece of seating furniture made of the pallets their clay is delivered combined with two ‘cushions’ in fired clay with silk-screen print.
- The chairman of the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition, Claus Bjerre (manufacturer: Fictum): the two-seater stool Twist, which shows the transformation that happens during the working process.
This year’s exhibition also includes furniture that aims to spark dialogue about contemporary challenges rather than serving as prototypes with the potential for commercial success. This includes:
- Karen Kjærgaard (manufacturer: Ambiente): the sofa Better Safe Than Sorry, consisting of 20-kg sandbags.
- Niels Gammelgaard (in collaboration with Box25arkitekter and model maker Morten Lyhne): BUK, which can be used as an undercarriage for different types of furniture – tables, shelving units or day beds – when combined with the sort of melamine-covered boards that are piled high at recycling stations.
The theme of the exhibition is underscored – or perhaps more accurately, put into perspective – by the venue.
As usual, the members have interpreted the theme based on their own individual interests and aesthetic or ideological preferences in relation to the challenging art of the possible.
In 2025, the challenging art of the possible is not just about the designer’s creativity or any manufacturer’s capacity and willingness to take a risk but equally about what designers and manufactures can even justify working with.
Perhaps a new commercial product?
The exhibition also includes furniture and objects that you might, to varying degrees, imagine seeing in use in private homes or public settings.
This includes several excellent and well-crafted pieces, such as:
- A Christmas tree that can be dismantled for storage by Thomas Sigsgaard (designer and manufacturer)
- A lamp by AkikoKernMade (designer and manufacturer)
- A sofa bed by Jonas Lyndby Jensen (designer and manufacturer)
- A portable stool by Christina Strand, produced by cabinetmaker Tihamér Szalay
- A wall-mounted drawer system by guest exhibitor Anna Søgaard and guest manufacturer Marie-Louise Høstbo
Architect (MAA) Marie-Louise Høstbo has worked with design and architecture for more than 25 years. This includes a position as Creative Design Director at the furniture company Fritz Hansen, writing several books on design and architecture and working as a speaker and consultant. From 2022 to 2024, she was a member of the board for the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition.
Before the opening of this year’s Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition, I met Marie-Louise for a cup of coffee in the café at Thoravej 29. I was curious to hear why she decided to take on the role of manufacturer for Anna Søgaard – and how she understands this role.
Anna Søgaard holds a master’s degree in design, specializing in furniture and objects, and has her own cabinetmaker’s workshop, where she produced the wall-mounted drawer system that is included in the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition 2025 as well as a collection of storage boxes titled BOX – Wooden Objects in Mathematical Systems. Earlier this year, BOX was presented in an exhibition at Officinet in Bredgade in central Copenhagen.
‘We are clearly living in a time of change and upheaval. We are facing multiple crises, and historically, times of crises have typically given rise to new possibilities and new forms of collaboration. That was the historical basis for the founding of the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition as well as for the re-establishment of the association in 1981’ she explains.
‘I have great respect for Anna, and we have had a long ongoing dialogue. We share many of the same values. We are also both interested in systems and mathematics. Her wall-mounted drawer system appeals to me. Storage furniture is important, and above all, it is important to surround ourselves with things that stimulate all our senses – things that someone put their best effort into making, and which we carefully selected and therefore cherish and keep for a long time.’
‘My first encounter with design was as a child, when I visited my aunt. She had designer furniture which she selected and bought at Illums Bolighus. I realized that this was something special. That was where I learnt to sit properly. Before I knew who had designed the furniture, I knew intuitively that it was conceived, produced and selected with great care. She bought her furniture in the 1960s – and she still has it.’
‘I am not a manufacturer in a traditional sense. Anna is perfectly capable of constructing the individual piece on a small scale, for exhibition purposes, but I am her professional associate and contribute with experience and industry insight from both a contemporary and a historical perspective.’
Anna’s exhibition piece is made of surplus wood from either industrial production or fellow cabinetmakers. She explains,
‘The system translates the traditional workshop storage bin to match a domestic setting and examines how a piece of furniture can change to accommodate varying needs. The wall-mounted drawer system consists of a variable grid structure and drawers of different heights that can be slid sideways to modify both function and expression. It consists of seven square drawers, each measuring 140 x 140 mm. The height varies by 45 mm across the four different sizes.’
Is your involvement also relevant to Anna if the piece is to be produced on a commercial basis? I ask.
‘I assume so. As a partner in the initial process, I would definitely be relevant in a dialogue with a potential manufacturer,’ says Marie Louise. ‘But maybe scaling up isn’t the goal. Maybe, instead, we need to rethink our whole approach to promoting and selling design and hand-crafted objects?’
We get up to take a sneak peek at the exhibition.
The photos (regrettably rather low-quality) are from the press preview on 24 October, when each designer had two minutes to present their piece.
The Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition
Thoravej 29, Copenhagen NV
Until 14 November 2025
Weekdays: 8.00–17.00 | Weekends: 8.00–15.00
During the exhibition period, the theme will be further challenged as the objects on display are rearranged to reflect the impact of the spatial setting on the furniture, and vice versa. The rearrangements take place on 31 October and 7 November.
”Under temaet transformation anskuer udstillingen møbler og designobjekter som redskaber for forandring og udfordrer grænserne for, hvad møbler kan være og blive til.”
Citat: Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling 2025
Beklager billedkvaliteten, som dels skyldes lysforholdene, dels at de fleste er fotograferet med mobiltelefon
Oktober 2025
Årets location er den prisbelønnede Thoravej 29 i Københavns Nordvestkvarter – en bygning, der er transformeret fra sit oprindelige formål som industribygning til nu at danne ramme om ambitiøse mennesker fra 35 organisationer, der arbejder med kunst, social innovation, bæredygtighed, demokrati, digital innovation og politik.
Thoravej 29 rummer værksteder, projektrum, kontorpladser, studier til video og lyd, en black box, atelierer, café, udstillingsrum og en åben scene.
Transformationen af bygningen er sket på initiativ af Bikubenfonden, som i 2021 købte den 4.621 m² store bygning. Thoravej 29 har modtaget flere priser, herunder Realdanias Renoverpris 2024, og er nomineret til EU’s Mies van der Rohe-pris 2026.
Scenen er sat
Traditionen foreskriver, at de udstillede møbler på Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling (SE) kommer til verden i tæt samarbejde mellem en formgiver og en producent – et gensidigt og respektfuldt samarbejde, som ikke sjældent har resulteret i, at den pågældende prototype er blevet videreudviklet og sat i produktion.
Uden at have foretaget en egentlig og faktabaseret analyse, synes det som om, at flere og flere bidragsydere både formgiver og producerer. Flere benytter også udstillingen til at vise møbellignende objekter, som i højere grad er kunstobjekter end egentlige møbler.
Tag for eksempel:
- Væver Karin Carlander (designer og producent): Alice, fremstillet af fraklip fra hendes tekstilproduktion.
- Jeremy Walton (designer og producent): taburet med perlebroderet top under titlen Crafts on Prescription – 20 minutes, twice a day.
- Ditte Hammerstrøm (designer og producent): skammel Omrids, fremstillet i orkis.
- Claydies (designer og producent): Brændt Ler, et siddemøbel fremstillet af de paller, de får ler leveret på, samt to “puder” af brændt ler med serigrafitryk.
- SE-formand Claus Bjerre (producent, Fictum): dobbeltsædet taburet Twist, som viser den transformation, der sker undervejs i fremstillingsprocessen.
Årets udstilling rummer også møbler, hvis formål er samtalen om tidens udfordringer snarere end at være prototyper med håb om kommerciel succes. Her tænker jeg på:
- Karen Kjærgaard (producent, Ambiente): sofaen Better Safe Than Sorry, bestående af sandsække med 20 kg sand i hver.
- Niels Gammelgaard (i samarbejde med Box25arkitekter og modelmager Morten Lyhne): BUK, som kan fungere som understøtning for forskellige møbler – borde, reoler eller daybeds – hvor toppen udgøres af melaminovertrukne plader, som dem genbrugsstationerne oversvømmes af.
Temaet for årets SE-udstilling understreges – eller måske rettere perspektiveres – af stedet.
Som vanligt har medlemmerne tolket ud fra egne interesser, æstetiske og ideologiske præferencer, sat i forhold til mulighedernes besværlige kunstart.
I 2025 handler mulighedernes besværlige kunstart ikke kun om formgiverens kreativitet, eventuelle producentens kapacitet og risikovillighed – det gør det også – men det handler i lige så høj grad om, hvad man som formgiver og producent kan forsvare at beskæftige sig med.
Måske et nyt kommercielt produkt?
Udstillingen rummer også møbler og objekter, som man i større eller mindre grad, kan forestille sig i hjem eller offentlige miljøer.
Mange fine og veludførte bud – blandt andre:
- Sammenklappeligt juletræ af Thomas Sigsgaard (designer og producent)
- Lampe af AkikoKernMade (designer og producent)
- Sovesofa af Jonas Lyndby Jensen (designer og producent)
- Transportabel taburet af Christina Strand, produceret af møbelsnedker Tihamér Szalay
- Og et væghængt skuffesystem af gæsteudstiller Anna Søgaard og gæsteproducent Marie-Louise Høstbo
Arkitekt MAA Marie-Louise Høstbo har i mere end 25 år beskæftiget sig med design og arkitektur. Hun har blandt andet arbejdet som Creative Design Director hos møbelproducenten Fritz Hansen, står bag en række bøger om design og arkitektur, forelæser og rådgiver – og var i årene 2022–2024 bestyrelsesmedlem i Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling.
Jeg mødte Marie-Louise inden åbningen af årets SE-udstilling over en kop kaffe i Thoravej 29s café, for at høre, hvorfor hun har valgt at træde ind på scenen som producent for Anna Søgaard – og hvordan hun ser sin rolle.
Anna Søgaard er Master of Design, Møbel og Objekt, og har eget snedkerværksted, hvor hun blandt andet har fremstillet det væghængte skuffesystem, som vises på SE, samt en kollektion af opbevaringsbokse under titlen BOX – Wooden Objects in Mathematical Systems, som hun tidligere på året udstillede i Officinet i Bredgade, København.
”Vi er åbenlyst i en brydningstid – kriserne står i kø – og ser man på det i et historisk perspektiv, så er det netop i krisetider, vi finder nye muligheder og nye måder at samarbejde på. Det var på den baggrund, SE oprindeligt blev etableret, og i det lys foreningen blev retableret i 1981,” forklarer hun og fortsætter:
”Jeg har stor respekt for Anna, og vi har været i dialog længe – vi deler på mange måder værdier. Vi er også begge optaget af systemer og talnørderi. Hendes væghængte skuffesystem tiltaler mig. Opbevaringsmøbler er vigtige, og frem for alt er det vigtigt at omgive sig med noget, som stimulerer alle sanser – noget, nogen har gjort sig umage med, og som man har udvalgt med omhu og derfor knytter sig til og beholder længe.”
”Mit eget første møde med design var, når jeg som barn besøgte min faster. Hun havde arkitekttegnede møbler, som hun havde udvalgt og købt i Illums Bolighus. Jeg forstod, at der var tale om noget særligt. Det var dér, jeg lærte at sidde ordentligt. Inden jeg vidste, hvem arkitekterne bag hendes møbler var, vidste jeg intuitivt, at det var omhyggeligt skabt, omhyggeligt fremstillet og omhyggeligt udvalgt. Hun købte sine møbler i 60’erne – og har dem stadig.”
”Jeg er ikke producent i traditionel forstand – Anna kan selv udføre det enkelte værk, i lille skala til udstillingsbrug – men jeg er hendes professionelle sparringspartner og bidrager med erfaring og viden om branchen, både fra et samtidigt og et historisk perspektiv.”
Anna siger selv om sit værk, som i øvrigt er fremstillet af rester af træ – enten fra industrien eller fra hendes værkstedskolleger:
”Systemet oversætter værkstedets klassiske plukkasser til hjemmets rammer og undersøger, hvordan et møbel kan forandre sig i takt med skiftende behov. Det væghængte skuffesystem består af en omskiftelig gridstruktur samt skuffer i forskellige højder, der kan glides sideværts og derved ændre både funktion og udtryk. Møblet består af syv kvadratiske skuffer, der hver har et grundmål på 140 x 140 mm. Disse varierer i højden med 45 mm på tværs af de fire forskellige størrelser.”
Er du også relevant for Anna, hvis værket skal produceres til kommercielt salg, spørger jeg
”Det formoder jeg, som sparringspartner er jeg absolut relevant i forholdet til at være i dialog med en potentiel producent”, svarer Marie Louise – ”men måske er målet ikke opskalering. Måske er der snarere behov for, at vi gentænker hele systemet for hvordan design og kunsthåndværk formidles og sælges?”
Vi rejser os og jeg får et smugkig på udstillingen.
Billederne er fra presseåbningen d. 24. oktober, hvor hver formgiver havde to minutter til at præsentere sit værk.
SE – Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling
Thoravej 29, København NV
Til 14. november 2025
Hverdage: 8–17 | Weekender: 8–15
Udstillingen vil undervejs – den 31. oktober og 7. november – udfordre temaet yderligere ved at lade de udstillede objekter bytte plads, med det formål at spejle de rumlige omgivelsers indvirkning på møblerne og vice versa.
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