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(Original blog by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen at bobedre.dk, translation by Nicholas Frickelton)

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Over the summer we have been living like transients without a home. As many other renovators will surely relate to, the process has drawn on and on, doubling the length of our homelessness. At last we have moved into the new house and are thoroughly enjoying having a home again. Slowly but surely we are taking over the house, room by room, and getting to know the place. It will probably be a while before we find a good balance in terms of furnishing, but for now here are some pictures of both the renovation and our progress after a week of being back.

Photos by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen

The shaping of a meal

(Original article by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen at bobedre.dk, translation by Nicholas Frickelton)

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More than three years ago we started toying with the idea of a new tableware set. Since then cups, bowls and plates have dragged tables, lamps and entire restaurants with them. Behind the concept of the most basic tableware lie fundamental thoughts about the presentation of a meal. Here we share with you our thoughts and give you a peek under the skirt.

Tableware has many functions. For hygienic reasons it keeps our food off the table. It transports our food from the kitchen to the table. It stores our food and keeps it cold, warm, or simply separated. It brings out the flavors and colors of our food. It decorates the table, sets the mood and determines our expectations for what’s to come.

In the presentation of a meal there is a mutual influence between tableware and food. Just as the tableware changes character depending on what ingredients are served upon it, so too the taste and visual experience of the food changes depending on whether it is served on porcelain, wood, slate, metal or glass. In other parts of the world there are different traditions for shapes and materials used in the kitchen and on the table. Our vision is to create a set of tableware whose materials and shapes can be combined in various ways to accommodate the specific dining experience you wish to present to your guests. We want our set to be adaptable to all kitchens and dining experiences in the world. We want it to be both simple, raw and rustic, yet refined, delicate and classic. I should feel at home in both harmony and disharmony. Finally, the set should allow for both basic and challenging presentations of a meal, depending on the eyes and hands preparing it.

Different ingredients have different shapes. Round, oval, oblong, liquid or solid. The art of food preparation is a dance of shapes and colors, where the chef combines and builds food and service; the chef alternates between painter and sculptor. Here, the tableware should fit into various roles. The individual pieces should be like canvas of different character. Simple and anonymous, dynamic in form, or deep and sensual in its tone. The tableware should go well with Spring’s light nuances, Summer’s deep tones and the decay of Fall; it should frame all types of food regardless of shape, color and preparation.

Wood gives warmth and texture. It has a soft acoustic range and ages with grace. Glass gives clarity and reveals contents. It is fine and delicate. Porcelain is cooling and clean. It highlights the food’s own colors, and the range of glazes is a universe unto itself. Slate swallows up color, letting the eye only see changes in nuance and texture. It is raw and robust and creates a nice contrast if combined with delicate white porcelain. Into the chef’s dance of food and tableware shapes go also the inherent characteristics of these materials, as well as the context between the textures of the ingredients and materials.

Clean and sensual

(Original article by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen at bobedre.dk, translation by Nicholas Frickelton)

NORM.ARCHITECTS

It is often a very helpless experience to part with your drawings, models or ideas, handing over the task of communicating your ideas to a company that will produce and market your product. However, when collaborating closely with a producer the experience can fortunately be very different, allowing you some influence over visual style, graphics and text. For our new bathroom series for MENU we not only designed the product, but also took the pictures and designed the layout for the product magazine.

Through the years we have designed countless bathrooms, both as part of a renovation or new construction. One thing most bathrooms have in common is a lack of space. Despite this, people still want big tubs, toilets, double showers, plenty of storage, and spaciousness. At the same time, the bathroom should also be simple and inviting; reminiscent of a trip to the spa. Of course, so much functionality entails a whole lot of hardware: fixtures, sinks, basins, cisterns, etc. It always requires maximum effort on our part to pull off simplicity without all the elements of the room tripping over each other visually.

Even when we finally manage to get all these basins, fixtures and cabinets to stop arguing with each other we still have to furnish the room with towel holders, paper roll holders, trash bins, soap pumps, storage glasses, toilet scrubbers, and so many other things. That is really a lot to squeeze into such small spaces. Therefore, one our primary goals with this project has been to design a bathroom series that is simple enough to fit into all types of bathrooms without being too noisy; a bathroom series that satisfies both our functional and aesthetic criteria when designing a bathroom.

The form was inspired by our fascination with the Japanese process of cutting very precise surfaces into otherwise soft, natural and voluminous rocks. Thus the starting point for us was to create an expression of form that has a soft rounded shape on the bottom that fits naturally into the hand, while also having a clean and precise cut on top, along with a material transition. We then imposed our own strict and geometric design language on the idea and tried to arrive at a form that could be improved with neither additions nor subtractions.

August Newsletter, courtesy of Menu A/S

Translation of MENU official August newsletter provided by www.menu.as

August Newsletter
The summer holidays are coming to an end and for those of us who have spent it here, the expectations of the remaining of the summer has grown with the unpredictable weather. We still haven’t had the big need to cool ourselves, the lunch or the beverages yet, so sun sun please come soon……

Therefore, we have decided to focus on a walk in the forest, in the park or on the beach in this newsletter.

When the landscape has become greener and the grass grows in the park, it is as if ourmind and body are affected in a positive direction. The streets are filled with people, as well as in the cafés and not to mention the green areas in the parks and the beautiful surroundings – so why not enjoy a cold glass of wine in the sun? Here is a recipe for a fresh and delicious summer drink, that you can take and bring with you in the picnic basket, to the beach or any place, where there is a need for a cool down.

Sunshine, summer and picnic
During the summer we are more relaxed, and when you lie in the green grass in the wonderful and peaceful surroundings, a cold drink is much needed. Below is an easy made and simple recipe for a fresh summer drink that effectively quenches thirst in the summer heat and is also perfect for a picnic.

Summer drink
Dry white wine
Elderflower juice
1-2 teaspoons cane sugar
½ Pressed lemon or lime
1-2 sprigs of fresh mint
Ice cubes

It is also good to serve as a welcome drink

White wine to go
Who wouldn’t like to take advantage of sunny summer days with a bottle of wine and a picnic basket, take a trip to the forest, barbecue on the beach, or just take an impulsive walk in the nature to enjoy a summer evening and a chilled bottle of wine? Outdoors life is wonderful, but transporting a bottle of wine and keeping it chilled until you get to your destination is not the simplest thing in the world. MENU now introduces a handy solution to this challenge. Designer Jakob Wagner designed a carefully considered Picnic edition of the popular Cool Coat, which meets all of the demands made on quality outdoors equipment.

The exceptional features that the Cool Coat Picnic have, is that it is made of sturdy cloth that does not allow condensation from the bottle to soak through. It has thick padding and an accompanying removable cooling pad that can be chilled in the freezer before use. Cool Coat Picnic can be completely closed with a durable zipper and also features a solid handle, reflector tape and a shock-absorbing, waterproof rubber base that enables it to stand stably and remain dry. Simply put, every detail has been thought of, including a small inside pocket for a Picnic Corkscrew.

The Cool Lunch Box
The lunch box is legendary. From the iconic image of the working man and his metal box on a floating beam in 47-story height to the young student bringing a delicate club sandwich with her for library readings at law school.

In honor of this inspirational history and to highlight the importance of a healthy homemade lunch MENU is now reinventing the healthy lunch experience and giving the classic lunch box a Scandinavian makeover.
MENU’s Cool Lunch is featured in strong colors with dominant zippers and holds a small cooling element that keeps food and beverages cold and fresh.

A clever handle with Velcro allows the Cool Lunch to be mounted with ease and brought along anywhere, anytime: On a golf bag, on a backpack, on the computer bag or over the handlebars of a bike – without the lunch being squeezed or demolished. A reinforced neoprene bottom further protects the energizing treats or the homemade gourmet.

A fresh look
“We took a fresh look at the lunch bag and wanted to make true improvement to its function and thus reinvent the experience of a fresh homemade lunch that can be enjoyed anywhere – in the office, at university, in the city, in the park, on the golf course, or at the gym,” says designer Jakob Wagner.
Cool Lunch is created with that one very specific ambition in mind – being a special treat for one person. The egoist lunch box for the homemade lunch, the special delicacies or for keeping the 6-pack cold and fresh.

Jakob Wagner brings a sense of style to the humble Cool Bag…
MENU has launched the ultimate proof that a cool bag full of food and drink under the arm or over the shoulder can be stylish. It is a fully functional cool bag, designed by Jakob Wagner with the attitude of an elegant shoulder bag.

MENU’s Cool Bag has been created to carry chilled white wine for a picnic, Danish strawberries for a romantic date or chilled elderflower juice for a trip to the beach. The secret is the unique, insulating, 100% waterproof inner bag, which keeps your food fresh and chilled, and allows you to bring new, exciting experiences to your picnic.

“We wanted to further develop an important part of the outdoor culture– the legendary cool bag and started by asking ourselves: Why can’t a cool bag be elegant and stylish instead of misshapen and gaudy?” says designer Jakob Wagner.

MENU’s Cool Bag has a completely different design and expression – a bag which is smart and fetching, while also being super-functional. Fill the bag with cold drinks and snacks, close it, pop it under your arm or over your shoulder and out the door you go.

Two innovative buckles mean Cool Bag can be used both as a standard bag with a short handle or as a shoulder bag with a longer strap. The insulating inner bag is also easy to remove, allowing the outer bag to be used as a spacious shopping bag – under the arm or over the shoulder.

New Menu Blade Wine Series Steals the Show

The new Menu Blade Wine Series designed by Design Wright that makes its debut this Fall received a resoundingly positive response at the New York Gift Show.

As we all know, wines release their true aromas when they come into
contact with oxygen, significantly improving the taste experience. Blade
adds 430% more oxygen to the wine. A result which no other decanting
pourer on the market can match.

The decanting pourer has inspired an entire series of Blade wine
accessories including the decanting pourer, a vacuum pump, waiter’s
corkscrew and twist corkscrew. The series is aerodynamic as well as
ergonomic and all tools are equipped with a rubber coated surface for
good and comfortable grip.

Please see below a video featuring the series.

Spice Up Your Water!

Water is cool. Water is refreshing. Water is life. But, water is also pretty boring. It may be the only thing more neutral than Switzerland. Yet we love the Swiss; they make some of the best chocolate after all! So too should we love water for how it can add some flavor to our lives.

MenuDesignShop presents Spice Up Your Water! Here you will find simple recipes that make water interesting, tasty and sexy! Dazzle guests at your next garden party, add some flavor to the dinner table, or just fall in love with water all over again. We do hope, of course, that you will make the presentation perfect using one of our stylish water jugs or carafes.

Enjoy!

Climaxing takes years

(Original blog post by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen from bobedre.dk, translation by Nicholas Frickelton)

NORM.ARCHITECTS

When working with architecture and design it can take years for projects to come to fruition. It can often feel like running in place without making any progress. There are many obstacles on the way to the final goal including, but not limited to, authorities, entrepreneurs, builders, producers, factories, ships, prices and shops. Then suddenly one day the idea becomes reality; the fruit is ready. This is our reality, yet currently this climax is overshadowed by another.

For us this means convention time. Specifically this means our new products are being presented to members of the press and shops at conventions and design events around the world. Happily this coincides with the completion of many of our architectural projects. As such, over our next few blogs we will lift the veil ever so slightly and share a few pictures of some our recently finished projects; a couple of seaside houses, a house white as chalk in the “Kartoffelrækkerne” neighborhood of Østerbro, a Ferrari garage in Spain, a penthouse apartment in Frederiksberg, felt panels for the home, a new interactive porcelain set, a restaurant and a minimalist bathroom set.

First, some pictures from the production and the very first prototypes of some new felt panels we drew up for the Designers Cut. The concept consists of a row of felt panels, each with different functions. A pin board, a letter holder, a clock, a mirror, hooks and a key holder. The boards can be re-arranged in endless configurations and placed all around the home; the hallway, kitchen, bathroom or home office.

Photos by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen