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Minimalist design—the perennial hegemony of midcentury modern style—can feel cold, austere, and at worst, bland. Putting a modern spin on this canon, especially in the context of the ever-influential “Danish School”, FORWARD imbues its concise, clipped furnishings with the plasticity of idiosyncratic performance. Standing out from the crowd of “humble” Danish design classics—copies and reinterpretations—his meticulously crafted designs are often rendered with the tiniest patina and polished metalwork. lightly treated woods. and fabrics with sparing upholstery. However, FRAMA is not just a furniture company.
Using the best materials and ingredients available, the holistic lifestyle brand develops complementary accessories, self-care solutions and even fragrances. catering to the considered but relaxed tastes of today’s more discerning tastemakers. This expanded offering adds a layer of softness to the basic designs and shows how they could be incorporated more seamlessly into one’s home.
The overall goal, as with much of Danish mid-century modern design—historical or contemporary—is permanence. It is an aspiration that can only be achieved through careful, intuitive use of aesthetic transcendence and formal adaptability. a holistic strategy that must rely on some degree of familiarity to be successful.
Playing on this duality, the ultimate coherence, FRAMA created a multi-sensory display at the Matter & Shape exhibition, held in Paris earlier this month. To launch the Union line—new reimagined chairs and tables imagined by Copenhagen-based British talent Michael Antrobus—the brand hosted The Mechanics of Scent exhibition. The star of the show: a water wheel that spins through a recognizable coffee table.
Formalizing the ethereal quality of diffused fragrance, the sophisticated yet playful composition contained water infused with FRAMA’s signature Apothecary scent. available in hand, body and hair products. The fragrance has notes of sandalwood, cedar and ylang-ylang. Like the new collection of the Union series, it is intended for a calming effect.
The main mechanical device—seemingly pulled from the pre-industrial era but refined through a contemporary, late modernist lens—signaled something more fundamental than today’s overly functional technological devices, and perhaps even served to facilitate respite from the hurried pace of the showroom floor.
Around it hung photographs and drawings that hinted at the main ingredients of the perfume. True to form when it comes to FRAMA’s practice of putting up ‘lived-in’ frozen-time displays, other process and reference materials were meticulously strewn about. There were stacks of books, sculptures and kitchenware drawn from the brand’s extensive range.
On display, of course, were some teaser pieces from the Union series, which were officially presented at 3 Days of Design in June. The collection — which includes a chair, an armchair, a stool, a table and a side table — extends to a new clever use of semi-circular aluminum profiles. The elements were meticulously bent into shape and assembled together to incorporate retention and provide comfort.
In profile, the compositions resemble the diverging lanes of wonderfully uniform and obviously simplified highway junctions. Wrapped in taupe and sandstone fabric – mesh for outdoor use and linen for indoors – the sofas acquire the indirect softness that distinguishes FRAMA.
The Mechanics of Scent installation will also be on display at 180 The Store this May New York Design Week. To know more about the brand and its aspirations, visit us.framacph.com.
Photo courtesy of FRAMA.
