While Copenhagen’s design crowd arrived for , Muuto’s twentieth anniversary was already being marked in Sydney.
At ‘s Woollahra showroom, furniture, lighting and objects were arranged around the idea of “new perspectives” – the phrase that has guided the Danish brand since its founding in 2006. The installation offered a preview of a much larger conversation unfolding in Copenhagen, where would spend 3daysofdesign looking not backwards at its history, but forwards to what it called the next chapters in design.
For much of its existence, Muuto has occupied the role of challenger. Founded by Kristian Byrge and Peter Bonnen, the company emerged with an ambition to bring fresh perspectives to Scandinavian design at a time when the region’s most famous brands were often defined by their historical catalogues. The name itself comes from the Finnish word muutos, meaning new perspective.
Twenty years later, Muuto is no longer the newcomer.
At its headquarters, the anniversary programme reflected a brand beginning to think about legacy without becoming nostalgic. Spread across three floors, visitors encountered previews of future products, presentations from and the launch of Muuto Design Contest 003, continuing the company’s long-running investment in new creative voices.
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Rather than producing commemorative reissues, Muuto chose to mark the occasion through two limited-edition objects that looked forward rather than back.
The first, Close to Heart Chair by Copenhagen design studio Spacon, takes the rigid logic of extruded profiles and disrupts it. Within the chair’s structural framework sits a repeated heart motif, introducing an unexpected emotional layer to an otherwise rational system.
The second, Inner View Object by Danish artist and designer Lise Vester, sits somewhere between mirror and sculpture. Mouth-blown in Murano and finished by hand, the object explores reflection, light and perception, encouraging a slower interaction than the functionality typically associated with Scandinavian design.
Together, the projects reveal an interesting direction for the brand. Neither object is particularly concerned with efficiency or problem-solving. Instead, both explore atmosphere, emotion and perception; qualities that increasingly appeared throughout Muuto’s anniversary programme.
That focus extended beyond products. At Other Circle, Muuto presented The Library, an installation built around books, objects and conversation. Elsewhere, the company launched Next Chapters in Scandinavian Design, a new publication produced with Gestalten that examines how colour, tactility, form, nature and light continue to shape contemporary interiors.
What emerges is a version of Scandinavian design that feels broader than the functionalist traditions often associated with it. While craftsmanship and materiality remain central, there was also a growing emphasis on emotional experience and the ways design influences how spaces are felt, rather than simply used.
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