Cecilie Manz Born 1972, lives and works in Copenhagen. After graduation from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts - The School of Design in 1997 with additional studies at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Cecilie Manz founded her own studio in Copenhagen in 1998. Here, Cecilie Manz designs furniture, glass, lamps and related products, mainly for the home. In addition to her work with industrial products, her experimental prototypes and more sculptural one-offs make up an important part of her work and approach: “I view all my works as fragments of one big, ongoing story where the projects are often linked or related in terms of their idea, materials and aesthetics, across time and function.Some objects remain experiments or sculpted ideas, others are made more concrete and turn into functional tools. The task or project itself often holds the key to inspiration; ideas don’t come from waiting but from leg-work, drafting and trials. My work goes from the inside out, and a project has to possess a sound, strong and relevant idea or functional justification before I address the actual physical design. My work has always revolved around simplicity, the process of working toward a pure, aesthetic and narrative object.” Recipient of the Thorvald Bindesbøll Medal 2011, the Bruno Mathsson Prize 2009, Kunstpreis Berlin 2008, the Finn Juhl Architectural Prize 2007, The Furniture Prize 2007, The Crown Prince Couples Cultural Award 2014, the Three-Year Working Grant from the Danish Arts Foundation and several other grants. Works with Fritz Hansen, B&O, Fredericia Furniture, Nils Holger Moormann, Lightyears, Muuto, Georg Jensen Damask, Iittala, Kähler, Offecct, Actus/Nissin and others.

Claesson Koivisto Rune is a Swedish architectural partnership, founded in Stockholm, in 1995, by Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune. Begun as an architectural firm, it is now an internationally acclaimed, multi-disciplinary office with an equal emphasis on both architecture and design. As the first Swedish office to have exhibited in the international section at the Venice Architecture Biennale, in 2004, they are also responsible for a wide range of award-winning projects such as K5 Tokyo, Grand Hotel Terminus, Villa Terminus, Zander K and Bergen Børs hotels in Bergen, Norway, Inde/Jacobs gallery building in Marfa, Texas, Sfera Building culture house in Kyoto, the Tind Prefab house collection for Fiskarhedenvillan, Widlund House private villa on Öland, Örsta Gallery building in Kumla, Nobis Hotel and Hotel Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. They design for such international companies as Arflex, Artifort, Asplund, Boffi, Capdell, Cappellini, David design, Dux, Fontana Arte, Kasthall, Living Divani, Modus, Muuto, Nikari, Offecct, Paola Lenti, Smaller Objects, Studio TK, Tacchini, Wästberg, among others. Claesson Koivisto Rune has received an array of international awards and recognitions, amongst them ten American Good Design Awards 2009 - 18, the Designpreis Deutschland (Gold and Silver) 2011 by the Federal Republic of Germany, Designer of the Year 2011 and Furniture of the Year 2012 by Elle Deco Sweden, both Designer of the Year and Best Seating 2014 by Elle Decor Italia, and the Red Dot Design Award – Best of the Best 2014, making them the first office to hold the prestigious Red Dot in five different product categories, architecture included. In 2015, they also received the prestigious Bruno Mathsson award, the highest honour in furniture design in Sweden and the Scandinavian region. Quotes on Claesson Koivisto Rune “When they unveiled the plans for us we were simply bowled over by the amazing design.” Vilis Inde, Art gallerist and author, Marfa, Texas, USA (From the book ”Claesson Koivisto Rune in Marfa The inde/jacobs gallery”, 2015, ISBN 978-91-877733-02-4) “In my time working as an observer to the design industry, it is rare to see a trio of men working so consistently well together.” Max Fraser, Design author and commentator, London, UK (From the book ”Claesson Koivisto Rune On Yellow”, 2011, ISBN 9789197655743) ”Claesson Koivisto Rune is a prime example of the power of contemporary design. Architecture and design are not only one profession, but they also lose the scale difference that allowed them to be kept separate.” Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA (From the book “Claesson Koivisto Rune Architecture/Design”, Birkhäuser 2007, ISBN: 978-3-7643-7948-3) ”The architecture and furniture designs by Claesson Koivisto Rune are the most evident example of the way inventiveness, humour and the reversals of stock forms can produce new panoramas for our minds, and these panoramas can be expressed with an instinctive simplicity, not with a reductive and faint-hearted minimalism.” Italo Lupi, Editor and Art Director of Abitare magazine, Italy (From the book ”Nine Houses Claesson Koivisto Rune”, 2003, ISBN 4-9901483-0-4 C0052)