20 May 2009

Breaking New Ground

As Scandinavia's leading maverick designer, Morten Voss is constantly traversing new design territories.

As the founder and director of Voss Co Living, Morten Voss has built a strong and lasting reputation based on taking risks. His success in this has not been a matter of luck, but rather the fruits of hard labour.

Voss’s big break was in 1994 with ‘Flight Deck’, a concrete seat held aloft by delicate gold-plated legs. At the time, “it felt like I was taking a big risk,” says Voss.

“’Flight Deck’ put people in two camps: they either loved it or hated it. I took the risk and I won, otherwise I wouldn’t have made a name for myself.”

Today the piece sells for the same price second-hand as it does new.

Like all companies, Voss Co Living experienced humble beginnings – not that anyone knew it. The name came about as a “sort of joke”.

“There was only two of us in the company,” says Voss. “One producing the tables, which was very dirty work, and me running around doing the marketing and selling.”

Despite the gritty reality behind the glamorous name, “people just loved the name Voss Co Living”. And that, along with a glossy web page put the wheels in motion.

Voss has just launched a new office furniture range entitled ‘Genese’, which is available exclusively through Interstudio. While the collection is classic in line and discreet in appearance, the thinking behind it is more progressive than classic.

“My ambition was to make pieces which looked like furniture from the home, combined with the functionality of office furniture,” says Voss. The outcome: furniture that makes you feel like you’re working from home.

Of the outward appearance, Voss says, “We worked with design signatures, so it would be easily recognisable.”

Even without the visual signatures, most sit up and take notice when they find the Voss brand attached – and this latest range is no exception.

See the ‘Genese’ collection in person at Interstudio.

Interstudio