Northmodern 2015: Danish design company Menu has released a range of homeware accessories in pale oak and pastel colours intended to "stay classy for generations" (+ slideshow).
Menu invited a number of Scandinavian and northern-European studios to design accessories for their Spring Summer collection, including Copenhagen office Norm Architects, which designed a beer frother for the company last year. Menu also debuted an oak storage unit by German product and furniture designer Sarah Böttger.
"You won't find anything crazy-coloured or hyper trendy that will wear out tomorrow," said the studio in a statement. "Our products and designs are meant to last and to stay classy for generations to come."
Oslo-based designer Hallgeir Homstvedt created Grow Pot, a black terracotta pot rooted with a silicon foot on one end of a pale oak tray. The design allows users to grow and display herbs directly on the chopping board that will be used to prepare them for cooking.
Norm Architects' Tumbler Alarm Clock features a wide flat clock face mounted on the end of a pastel-coloured barrel. To stop the alarm, the clock must be turned over and placed face down.
Menu also presented a black powder-coated metal jewellery tree with asymmetric branches named Norm Collector by the studio, whose co-founders Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen and Kasper Rønn are Menu's creative directors.
The octagonal Willenz Volume Rug by Belgian designer Sylvain Willenz is printed with blocks of colour in a spectrum ranging from grey to pink to give the illusion of a perspective drawing of a hexagonal prism.
"By cutting the corners of a flat and classic rectangular rug, Willenz created an unconventional lozenge shape," said a statement from Menu.
A doorknob-shaped tealight holder by Scottish designer Nick Ross – who set up studio in Stockholm – can be turned upside down to accommodate a slimmer candle stick. The piece, named Soft Capital, is made from white-flecked or black marble.
Sarah Böttger's offering is Round Box, a disk of black oak that conceals a slim storage tray below a sliding top. The lid can also be propped at an angle to support a book or tablet.
Rain-washed scenes are depicted in a mottled textile pattern by Danish designers Kristina Kjær and Signe Hytte.
The hand-drawn design is "inspired by the dark and melancholic winter weather in the north". The aptly named Rain pattern is applied to pink, blue and grey cushion covers and throws made from knitted wool.
The range was launched at the Northmodern trade fair in Copenhagen, which concluded yesterday.
The menu stand was designed by local studio Moon. It featured grid-patterned wallpaper and alternating felted surfaces split by a suspended mirror panel. A bank of the brand's branching Tribecca lights by Søren Rose Studio was installed above the space.
Menu will show further items from its latest collection, including a circular mirror mounted on a marble base and a range of soft furnishing at Maison&Objet in Paris later this week.
Photography is by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen and Mikkel Rahr Mortensen.