Nina Bruun is a Danish designer and consultant who holds a Master’s degree in Furniture and Spatial Design from the Royal Danish Academy of Design. As a designer and industry professional, Nina has carved out a niche on the inter ­ national design scene as a designer and leading source on interior trends, color knowledge and design forecasting. Her work has been featured in Wallpaper*, Design Milk, Herald Tribune, Washington Post, Le Figaro and many others. As an accomplished designer, Nina has received a Red Dot Design Award and has work accepted in the permanent collection at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

Please tell us about your studio?

“Nina Bruun Design Studio is a multidisciplinary creative studio based in Copenhagen focusing on product – and furniture design, color and trendwork. I established the studio in 2016 after years in the industry. I’ve always been drawn to the beauty in things and I love to translate the impressions I meet on my way into design”.

You have been working as designer for many years, but this is your first lamp design? What was your inspiration for PePo glass lamp?

“I’ve been interested in light from very early in my career and it’s a field that I worked a lot with during my studies where I created several pieces. PePo was designed with a wish to create a simple yet sculptural lamp with a highly commercial appeal. I really wanted to give the classic glass pendant more character and personality. In my work with PePo I’ve been focused on designing a functional lamp that changes as you move around it – making it interesting and ever relevant, alone, in pairs or in clusters”.

Watch the Story of PePo HERE.

What are the challenges of working with glass in terms of production?

“Working with glass is challenging, espe­cially when aiming for perfection and really good quality. It takes time to find the right specialists to work with, and after that finding the right methods, quality and expression. Something that you don’t think about is the fact that glass shades looks very different depending on whether they are lit or not – and its very import ­ ant for us that the lamps look great both ways so, we had a lot of focus on that”.

What are the key design attributes of PePo lamp?

“The PePo lamp has a traditional function, but the form embraces soft waves and movements that are not usually referenced in glass lamps. The pumpkin-inspired shape and repetitive pattern gives it appeal from all angles, while the “stem” adds a fun touch”.

Papier is another design lamp you have created with Made by Hand. What was the inspiration for working with rice paper as a material for a lamp?

“Paper is, like glass, a very poetic material if used well. I was very interested in challenging the material and working with several forms in one and even overlapping shades which is something that I haven’t seen in rice paper lamps before. I like the quality of the light that passes through the tactile material and I think it adds so much to an atmosphere”.

How are the qualities of rice paper used to distribute light and create ambience in a space?

“The properties of rice paper are amazing, the way in which the paper can distribute the light and create mood simply by means of structure and translucency is difficult to imitate. The distribution of the light through the paper is not only very aesthetic but also highly functional and practical – it’s a simple way to add a lot of ambience”. 

The shapes and forms in the Papier family share some similarities, but also differences. How do they fit together as a family?

“Despite the very different choices in material, both designs share a minimalistic feel and belong in a curvy universe with beautiful silhouettes and has a highly versatile use. There is also something interesting in the meeting between these very different materials, that are so different to touch but are equally delicate and poetic”.

You introduce colored rice paper in the Papier family, – what are your thoughts on this design element in the lamp?

“Together with Made by Hand, I dreamed of designing a new, light, identity – creating rice paper lamp – a modern take on a classic. One of the new effects I used was color –  color creates a new dimension and provides an opportunity to create processes, stories and identity in an interior design. Not that these can be compared, but working with the colored rice paper, I looked at the traditional Asian paper lanterns, which are seen with both sporadic color and as full colored”.

The Papier lamp is handmade and sold flat-packed and very easy to assemble. Putting a lamp together is where the magic happens, from flat packed to a conductor of light. Did you have any concerns working on a flat-packed solution?

“Of course, I always have the end user in mind while designing, so it was very important for me to create a lamp that’s easy to assemble and use – it’s a part of the experience. Again, this is an area where it’s great to work with skilled artisans”.

Share your best quote…

“Oh, that’s a hard one but I have to say that one of the most important things in the world of design is “That good design takes time” and that is something that Made by Hand understands and that has resulted in some really good collections in great quality” – Nina Bruun.