No one does dope & sustainable furniture like Garsnas
We’re in awe with Gärsnäs: a brand that has been around for 127 years and still manages to bring innovation to the table – which is kinda funny considering they mastered the furniture art like no other.
The Swedish brand mixes high technology with meticulous craftsmanship +++ sustainable materials – like responsibly produced leather and hardwood from local forests. The result is long lasting iconic goods that never go out of style, such as the Ferdinand armchair designed by Åke Axelsson, an adaptable and versatile piece that brings sophistication to any room.
Even tho keeping up with growing tech is a big deal for Gärsnäs, nothing beats the human touch. It’s the skilled hands of the designers & collaborators, like our friend Axelsson above, that bring the brand’s character to life.
Other great example of that is David Ericsson and his astonishing creation, the Hedwig chair with leather so hot that adds warmth even to the coldest of Swedish weathers, turning Gärsnäs' Scandinavian design into an object of desire around the world.
There are more designs where these came from. Check out the most iconic pieces from Gärsnäs.
We dare you to guess what they all have in common (okay, we’ll give you a hint: it’s leather).
There’s a whole universe behind the brand. Wanna know more? Scroll down and read the full interview with Anna & Dag Klockby, the couple in charge of managing Gärsnäs.
“Curious and sustainable” is the powerful statement that we see when we go find out more about Gärsnäs. It is both the future and the past. How does it feel to create furniture, sustainable furniture, for so long?
We are proud to be a part of Gärsnäs history: that goes long back to 1893. We benefit and take advantage of knowledge and craft, experience and tradition while moving forward and creating new designs for the future.
Gärsnäs is an example in the universe of furniture creation also in a world facing an environmental crisis. We imagine that it is difficult for a company to be part of an ecological cycle with awareness in times like these. How difficult is it to keep all these points connected and working for a satisfactory result?
Looking back on our history, Gärsnäs has always worked in a sustainable manner; for example, the wood we used in the manufacturing process comes from nearby forests. The high quality furniture from Gärsnäs represents durability and long life cycles and since long back we often renovate our customers' pieces of furniture that have been in use for many years. Still as a manufacturer, it is challenging to perform well and be on top when it comes to environment and sustainability.
We are constantly investing in education and production methods in order to reduce our climate footprint and we’re always searching for ways to proceed in a path that is more friendly to the environment.
Gärsnäs works with an extensive team of designers. You believe in genuine human craftsmanship. Could you describe this union process between creating with hands and also with extreme computer technology? What does it represent?
We are merging high technology with craftsmanship in the process of manufacturing furniture. The latest technology provides us with the efficiency and precision needed and also brings innovation to the developing process, where the technology allows us to produce in large-scale. The crafting embodies the handmade and the human touch, which are essential for the final result: it's in our DNA and represents what the brand is all about. The object of design is worth nothing if it’s poorly made, it's always better to make it simple, but well crafted.
Fact: Earth’s resources are burdened beyond the limit and we've found a quote on the Gärsnäs website that goes, "Our environmental requirements are very high regarding incoming material and processes. We seek the best methods and materials available from an environmental perspective." So, still talking about materials: leather in furniture.
How is this material seen, inserted, and thought within Gärsnäs?
We love leather for many reasons: it's durable, sustainable, and natural. We try to use mainly responsibly produced leather for upholstery and we mostly make the leather a part of the construction. Like in the Madonna and Hedda chairs, as well as in Hedwig, Ferdinand and Dandy easy chairs.
Leather can be treated and restored for being a longlife material. It grows more beautifully and gracefully when it’s well taken care of.
Garsnas has a reuse system that is about the renovated, reupholstered, repainted furniture processes for the very same furniture. It is a responsibility for sustainability. It's the Gärsnäs feeling, as you call it.
What does that mean to you? This feeling.
The Gärsnäs feeling is something immaterial yet worth mentioning; it correlates to our core values when it comes to our designs, which are solidness, thoughtfulness, and awareness. It is also about trust and faith. It represents high moral standards when we as furniture producers interact with a global market trying our best to achieve the environmental goals.
Many companies could have a vision of setting up a project like the Circular Vision 2030. Most do not take responsibility for the future. Do you believe that the biggest problem with this issue would be the profit itself?
Profit can always be an obstacle for achieving something that is beneficial for society in general. Profit is of course essential for any business and as long as attitudes towards the environment are not equal to profit there will be inertia in the market. All industries in general are focused on large scale production and a never-ending stream of new products leaving the factories. However, I do believe we will experience a paradigm shift in the near future... Actually, it has already started when we see industries in different fields simply creating and finding new businesses models that are built upon renewing, repairing and reusing in accordance with a circular economy. As soon as these models perform and prove sustainable profit, the change will come quicker than we might believe. Some companies have to take the lead, then the rest will follow.
After the Second World War, the company adopted the modern Scandinavian style and started to produce not only furniture for homes, but it also increased its production for the public space. So, could you describe your creation process for, after such a long time as a brand, continuing to create with this unique style?
For us, furniture design is a matter of finding solutions for people interacting and socializing in different situations regardless if it’s about residential or public spaces. We try to add value to existing archetypes, a chair is a chair, but perhaps we can make it lighter and more durable and friendlier to the environment by reducing the amount of material. We can be innovative working with different techniques, and we focus on functionality when we develop furniture for office spaces, hospitality, education/universities, churches, libraries or residential areas.
Form follows function, which means we do not underestimate the value of aesthetics, but we collaborate with a number of skillful designers in order to create pieces of furniture with aesthetic value, which includes: material, techniques, colors, and more. For us, individual expression is highly important and we are constantly working with our heritage sprung from the Scandinavian tradition, which means furniture of high quality, mainly in wood, beautifully constructed and with emphasis on functionality. Materials are mainly wood coming from nearby locations in Scandinavia and Europe, as well as upholstery in fabric and leather.
Preferably hardwood, such as ash, birch, oak, beech. When starting a new development process, we write a brief which contains the different aspects and problems we are trying to solve together with a designer.
We would like to talk about the classic Ferdinand. It is an armchair that has everything: comfort, practicality & its leather is vegetable tanned. A modern icon designed by Åke Axelsson. Do you believe that this chair is the design, the piece, the idea that represents the most profound originality of Gärsnäs?
Ferdinand is unique, because I have followed Mr Åke Axelsson since the 1970s, when he studied the ancient chairs and plenty of other historical chairs from ancient times. Ferdinand is inspired by these studies and is fulfilling all aspects of a sustainable chair. Nobody but Åke Axelsson, who has brilliant knowledge and craftsmanship, could make this happen.
In Swedish, home can be described with two words: hus, referring to an impersonal physical space, or hem, which expresses notions of belonging, security, and comfort. What does it take to create this Swedish atmosphere? What does it mean to have this Swedish atmosphere inside a home or a public place, to you?
I guess the typical Swedish atmosphere in spaces (public or private) at its best, is a connection to a certain simplicity, less is more, but with a warm and friendly feeling. For instance, we are using a lot of candle lightning, because historically we are used to cold weather and a lot of darkness during wintertime, therefore we want light and warmth.
We need the lightness and the warmth that natural materials communicate rightly, such as wood, leather, natural wool, and others that contrast with steel, aluminum, synthetic fibers, plastic, and more.
To finish, we have two more questions.
A delicate one: Do you believe that we will still see a real change in the future in environmental issues, companies taking action to reshape this established carelessness with the environment that we live in today?
I think we will see a change in the environmental issues sooner or later, depending on the overall development in our society and climate aspects. There is slowness in reaction due to the conservatism within the industry in general.
Why change when everything works well as it is? And if, however, we experience successful stories and results from companies that have taken action, we think that step by step more companies will follow and then there might be a mass movement. Secondly, it's also a matter for the politicians and governments to gear our society in the right direction, where laws and regulations will be necessary.
A light one: What’s your favorite chair in Gärsnäs' line ever?
My favorite chair ever is always the latest one, perhaps the Petite chair is my favorite.
We look forward to the favorites that are yet to come. Bring it on, Gärsnäs.
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