Essential, minimal, unforgettable: Skagerak
One of today's top Danish design furniture brands is Skagerak. Its essential, minimal designs creations have found their way to the hearts of design lovers all over the world.
Nothing beats Scandinavian design when it comes to creating a feeling of inner peace. As it is natural, different styles aim at different goals; in general, Danish interior design tends to be one of the few trends that are able to combine minimal, essential aesthetics with a feeling of calm and warmth. We all know one of the main risks of minimalism is that it can end up creating a cold, impersonal atmosphere. With Scandinavian design, things are different. Somehow, every single time Scandinavian designers manage to make the miracle: you find yourself staring at a beautiful, cozy living room layout, where pieces are minimal and nothing is unnecessary, and yet, the room would never, ever feel cold. Well, in our opinion Skagerak is one of the best examples of this typically nordic talent. You aren’t familiar with this brand? You should be! Read the article and prepare to step into a peaceful hygge world.
First of all: what do we know about Skagerak? It is a fairly middle-aged brand: it was established back in 1976 by Jesper and Vibeke Panduro. Again, as many successful furniture companies, it has been family-run since the very beginning, and it will continue to be family-run in the future as well. For more than 40 years, Skagerak has been working relentlessly to design and craft meaningful creations that would eventually help making people’s lives peaceful and more comfortable. You might be wondering what’s behind this clearly very nordic name, “Skagerak”. Well, “Skagerrak” (with a double “R”) is the name of the strait connecting Denmark to Sweden and Norway; its existence was vital for the development of nordic and Scandinavian culture. The brand’s founders felt like this name would express their ability to help the diffusion of Scandinavian culture, as well as their ability to be a stable but always changing and innovative presence in the interior design market.
One of the features that have certainly helped establishing Skagerak as one of the most reliable furniture and home décor brands in the interior design market is the fact that, from the very beginning, they have aimed at creating long-lasting furniture that could be part of a family’s daily life for generations to come. It is needless to say that one of the biggest issues we are dealing with, pretty much with every kind of products, is their reliability. The vast majority of what we buy seems to have been programmed to break down just a short while after we’ve started to use it. When it comes to furniture, this is particularly annoying: we all know that, in general, furniture is not cheap, is it is all the more infuriating when it breaks without any apparent reason. Now, take the exact opposite of this kind of attitude: you’ll have Skagerak. That’s why Skagerak aims at crafting timeless designs that can last for a lifetime.
Of course, quality is also the result of good partnerships. When Skagerak takes up a collaboration or a partnership, it does not do so lightly; the relationship-building process needs to be nourished every single day: it does not take one or two weeks to build the trust that according to Skagerak is absolutely necessary for a collaboration to be fruitful. Skagerak started to build their relationships portfolio about forty years ago, and as a result, today they are collaborating successfully with more than 30 designers, both international and Danish. After all, cultural exchange always brings forward new ideas and unexpected but brilliant new combinations.
But these are not the only reasons why we should appreciate Skagerak. Remember how we said their furniture and home décor is made to last for generations? Well, that is made possible by the choice of materials: only the most high-quality are employed in crafting a design by Skagerak. However, what is also quite fundamental is where these raw materials come from. It is not a question that involves this brand alone, but the whole world: how many companies are not being transparent on exactly where their materials come from in order to profit from disadvantaged countries, pay less taxes, and so on? Well, this is never going to be the case with Skagerak: the company is perfectly clear on where they get the materials they need from.
Do you need one more reason to appreciate this Danish brand even more? Of course, we’ve got it! In 2016, during the year of their 40th birthday, Skagerak joined the B Corp movement. The expression “B Corp” stands for “benefit corporation”; in short, a B Corp are companies that meet the highest standards for both social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. According to the mission of the B Corp movement, the terms and definition itself of success need to be redefined in relation to the impact that a company has on the planet and the people. In short, sustainability is what a company needs to keep in mind and worry about in order to be successful; a concept that Skagerak 100% supports.
A company’s success is also determined by the their relationship with partners and suppliers. That is why Skagerak adheres to the 11 principles contained in their CoC (Code of Conduct), which contains what would seem to be obvious, natural principles, such as “Decent working hours”, “Ethical business behaviour” and “Fair remuneration”, but which, as you probably know, are not respected by a -- sadly -- very considerable number of employers. In conclusion, yet another reason that explains the success of Skagerak is their fairness, combined with their ethical values.
Did we satisfy your curiosity? We know you’re going to love Skagerak as much as we do!
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