Magnus Sangild – best of both worlds
Young designer with a penchant for both the oblique and sustainability. His aesthetic education rests on a foundation of practical knowledge from a background in carpentry.
Design should have a long life. Create images, stories and tales.
The mantra of Magnus Sangild might sound something like this. He finds inspiration from the Dutch, unorthodox DROOG-designers and their emphasis on the visual impact – but Magnus Sangild adds a Scandinavian touch to his witty designs.
The young designer’s original plan was to become a cabinetmaker. He took an apprenticeship with renowned Danish cabinet maker Gert Kjeldtoft from 2000 to 2003. After completing his apprenticeship Sangild wanted to refine and improve on his technical skills. Thus, he took the journey from Aarhus’ carpentry workshops to the creative atmosphere at The Danish Design School. Sangild took his master of design in 2009.
Exhibitions at Trapholt
At this point, however, the exhibition world already knew of Sangild: Trapholt, Denmark’s leading museum in furniture and design, included Sangild’s ”New R/B Chair” in their permanent exhibition and since then the sofa ”MagicMagnusMountain” followed the same way. Sangild has also worked with fashionable and renowned people from the Danish design scene, including Louise Campbell and Henrik Vibskov. Sangild was also granted with an “Award of Honour” at the Greenfurniture Award 2009 for the stool named ”Medusa”.
Exploring the boundaries
The card says both cabinetmaker and designer. Magnus Sangild works deliberately in the cross field between art and design – a field referred to as ‘cross-over’. Here the scope of the two disciplines are explored. The boundaries are crossed, new possibilities are discovered. Sangild feels a responsibility to increase the diversity on the furniture market. “It is equally important that the product both tells a tale and that the product has a very obvious function”, he explains.
And thus Sangild’s stories live on. Tales of furniture and design with both sustainability and a glimpse of humour. Magnus Sangild has just started his own firm – Studio / Magnus Sangild at Christianshavn in downtown Copenhagen, exploring both furniture, product design and interior decoration. An ideal platform for Magnus Sangild’s vision of future-proof design.
Henrik Reinberg Simonsen
Master in Modern Culture