Scandi with a twist: in conversation with Christina Strand and Niels Hvass

Strand + Hvass’ is an innovative product design studio focusing on human-centric furniture. At the core of each design lies a goal to create a long-lasting piece that evolves with the world’s changing pace and conditions, focusing on circularity, flexibility, and modularity – with extensive portfolios in successful commercial and experimental projects alike.

Collaborating with designers from North America to Denmark, Narbutas products are sold in over 60 countries, with showrooms in London, Paris, New York, Düsseldorf and beyond. Strand + Hvass’ wide range of furniture designed for Narbutas – from flexible modular systems to ergonomic and sustainable seating – are all grounded in Scandinavian design values, with an international twist that makes them some of Narbutas’s most successful collections around the globe. Here, the Danish designers talk to Mix about creative processes, meaningful collaboration and human-centred design.

Could you introduce yourselves?

Christina: We are furniture designers, but also a husband and a wife. So it is very convenient for us to combine family life, and work. And we work better together as there are four eyes instead of two, I am stronger in some things and Niels in others. However, we both spend some time on our own projects – experimental design that is unrelated to specific clients.

Niels: Our studio Strand + Hvass is located in Copenhagen, but we work with clients worldwide.

How do you know you have created a good design?

Niels: Good design is when it meets our requirements: our furniture is comfortable and sustainable, the expression is balanced, the production is not too complicated and we can ensure an adequate price.

Christina: It is very important that the product is long-lasting, both in quality and visually. We do not want to create fast-moving products that will be out of fashion the next day. We strive to create an expressive yet visually sustainable design. The customers’ feelings are also very important – they have to feel appreciated when using a piece of furniture, they have to like it, whether it is in the details, the comfort or something else. That is why we always want to add something more when creating a new design. It does not necessarily have to be visible, but it does have to be felt! Customers need to feel that we care about them.

Niels: Sometimes a design that we are creating can become complicated. Because so many things have to go into the design and the product itself, so many things have to fit together. To us, a good design is when everything works, the product lives up to expectations, but it also looks very simple and understandable on the surface. If a product looks complicated, it is not a good design.

Does this have something to do with the ‘hygge’ philosophy?

Christina: I think it is all part of ‘hygge’ and part of our Scandinavian culture. Danish ‘hygge’ is popular abroad, but it is hard to explain. The ‘hygge’ philosophy is all about feeling comfortable, relaxed and welcome. We invite people into our homes, we cook, and we make sure that those homes are warm, beautiful and have a cosy, friendly atmosphere. Perhaps, we are also bringing ‘hygge’ to Narbutas as part of our culture without even knowing it.

Niels: The ‘hygge’ itself includes many criteria. It is all about relaxation, everyday comfort, stress-free living. The first product we developed in collaboration with Narbutas is the JAZZ collection. Just as in jazz each musician has their own tunes to play and room for improvisation, we want to create furniture that makes everyone feel equal, equally important and capable of performing a variety of tasks.

Christina: Let me add – JAZZ is about everyone being important and having room to improvise. As for the recent changes in the work environment, its new vision – to me, it is a space to be myself. Because it is very important to enjoy your work, and a lot of that enjoyment comes from freedom to be yourself. You are allowed to work the way you want, sit the way you feel comfortable. Finally, people work better if they can be themselves, if they feel safe. Returning to the JAZZ collection, work is the place where many people come together. And if you allow them to contribute and bring their own tone, improvise, something bigger and better can come out of it than just being cooped up at home all the time, alone.

You talk about sustainability – how can designers contribute to sustainability?

Christina: We are the first to draw the limits. Our strategy is to be sustainable and more sustainable. We try to look at everything we do through this prism, and our end goal is to make furniture that can be robust yet repairable, just as it is easy to disassemble, i.e. separate materials that are recycled differently.

Niels: We think not only about the furniture, but also about who has the responsibility to take care of a worn-out product. Is it clients? Community? Companies? Who must collect used furniture so that its materials can be reused? Because we cannot go on like this: burning used products and making new ones from new raw materials. We all have to think about circular production, about the circular economy, and that is becoming more and more a part of our job.

You have been collaborating with Narbutas for about 10 years now. What was the beginning? What is still exciting, still fascinating?

Niels: I think there was, as they say, good chemistry between us. We felt that Narbutas was a company that wanted to develop in the same direction that we had in mind, and that brought us together.

Christina: What really impressed us is that Narbutas has its own factory. Because in Denmark, for example, there is very little production left, and it is so nice to have your own plant. It is not far from thought to action and it is always a great thing in the design process.

Niels: When there is a local production plant, there is an opportunity to interact with people who know the processes and problems. When looking at the drawings, the design, in the workshops, they might say: oh, no, it is too complicated, there will be problems with this or that. And we can have these conversations with the personnel effectively – quickly, right from the start of the process.

Your JAZZ, JAZZ Chill Out collections have been among the Narbutas most popular products for years. Why do you think that is?

Niels: I think there is such a strong synergy between very simple and easy-to-understand design and functionality that it makes the piece of furniture very easy to use. It is useful in many situations and many very different spaces.

Christina: This collection reflects our desire not to create new things all the time and stay longer with what has already been created and produced. We try to stay ahead of developments. To design products that can be changed and upgraded by the customer without having to replace the whole product. For example, you could buy another part of the modular collection, just in a different colour, and the whole piece of furniture will look completely different. In general, the design of this product is very flexible – the parts of the piece of furniture can be rearranged and repositioned according to changing needs.

Niels: I think the popularity of a piece of furniture often lies in its simplicity. I have noticed that when furniture is simple, it is easy to sit next to other people, strangers for instance. Sophisticated furniture makes people feel restricted, while simple furniture does the opposite. As if you were just sitting on a stone somewhere in nature. However, we are moving on to our other work – SOFT ROCK. We named our furniture SOFT ROCK because we were thinking about the water-smoothed stones by the riverbed, which also create an illusion of softness and smoothness, where you can sit down and lean in different positions, whatever the riverbed offers you.

Christina: We can go even further. The Vikings had stones, pieces of rocks, arranged in circles, were they used to sit down and talk, have discussions. That circle of stones used to be a meeting place, just as the purpose of SOFT ROCK.