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SOREN HOLST "Awards are all very well and it's always nice to be recognised for one's achievements but what really makes me happy is when my designs work." There is no doubt in Soren Holst's mind: Visual longevity is the most important feature of any piece of furniture; the fact that you can stand looking at it 10 years on. The fact that he designed his first pieces of furniture for Fredericia Furniture back in 1984 and that they continue to sell well, particularly in Japan, attests to the fact that this is not merely empty hype. Holst, who trained as a cabinet maker, a building technician and a furniture designer, has had a close and long-standing collaboration with Fredericia Furniture. Not surprisingly his advice to graduate furniture designers is that they should seek and appreciate close collaboration. "The manufacturer is the designer's tool - in exactly the same way as the plane is the carpenter's." Despite his background as cabinet maker, Soren Holst has worked just as much with metal as he has with wood, and as a teacher at the Danish School of Design he primarily focuses on industrial design. An example of this, he has helped to design along with Henrik Tengler commerical benches and plinths, for heavy use areas like railway stations and these have in fact been erected at Norreport's busy metro Station in Copenhagen, as well as all refurbished stations all over Denmark. Inspiration comes from every source and at any moment of the day or night. "You store a reservoir of inspiration in the course of a lifetime - and sometimes, when you need it, little pieces seep down and find their way into a piece of furniture." |
