[AD] Calm Aesthetics with Carl Hansen & Søn's Table Bench

Nordic Design

21 Jan

Cooee Design's Olufemi concrete bust and minimalist line drawn print from Projekt Henri on top of Carl Hansen & Søn's rattan Table Bench.

Carl Hansen & Søn have loaned the BM0488 Table Bench as part of this paid partnership.

There is not a single piece of furniture Børge Mogensen has designed that I do not love. He just had this knack for creating the most enduring pieces with warm simplicity. He loved to work with refined natural materials; oak, rattan, leather, wool and the like. Stripped of unnecessary frills, his innovative post-war approach to design introduced a new functional and minimalist style.

A minimal Nordic living room in neutral tones with a black floor lamp and rattan table bench from Carl Hansen & Son.

Originally designed in 1958, Mogensen's Table Bench has been reissued by Carl Hansen & Søn and was nominated as 'Best Comeback' for a Bo Bedre Nordic Living Award in 2020.

A soulful piece with a double weave rattan seat, it lends itself beautifully to a multitude of uses. Based on his approach to versatile, 'building furniture' that adapts to your living conditions, Mogensen designed the bench to sit alongside his Day Bed. It creates a warm welcome in a hallway, a place to fold blankets at the end of the bed. A coffee table, perhaps?

And its calm aesthetic is most definitely needed at this time. It fits like it was made for the bay window of our living room and I've spent quiet moments enjoying it as a window seat.

Black floor lamp designed by Mads Odgård for Carl Hansen & Søn styled behind a rattan table bench, designed by Børge Mogensen.

A cream soft merino wool throw from Soho Home folded on top of an oak and rattan Nordic style bench in a minimalist living room.

Ceramic objects styled on a rattan bench in a bay window with a minimalist black floor lamp behind.

The sturdy frame is crafted from oiled oak heartwood and demonstrates Mogensen's skills in cabinetry. See its gently rounded edges? A double weave rattan surface provides a warm and sturdy seat, or a space to display a beautiful new acquisition. Let me introduce the intriguing work of British ceramist, Sophie Bland. Having recently moved back to the UK from sunny San Francisco, her tactile pieces are made by a method of joining slabs of clay. She adds a contrasting roughness to the smooth white, carving out flecks on each piece and glazing them in a matt black.

A carved monochrome black and white ceramic vase made by British ceramist Sophie Bland sits on top of a woven rattan table bench designed by Børge Mogensen.

Olufemi concrete bust from Cooee Design on top of a rattan bench in a minimalist Nordic interior.

Standing sentry behind the bench is new minimalist design from Carl Hansen & Søn. The M0320 lamp, designed by Mads Odgård came about when he couldn't find a suitable lamp for his summer house in Sweden. Its simplistic tubular design represents a sense of safety for Odgård:

"When you see a lamp it gives you a feeling of comfort, wherever you are. If you're in a Swedish forest or a hotel room, even if it is turned off you know you can switch it on when it gets dark."

Mads Odgård on the M0320 lamp.