Custom furniture design is but one of many services offered by the firm, which was established by friends and business partners Koivisto, Mårten Claesson and Ola Rune. It all began when they first met in the early 1990s while studying architecture at the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden, where they became close friends and, eventually, business partners as architects- cum-designers. Their relationship is one that is free of rivalry, as described by Mårten. “I felt so honoured at first when I thought the other two selected my family name to come first in ‘Claesson Koivisto Rune’. Until I realised it was just a matter of the names being alphabetically ordered.”
Aside from having completed architectural projects for prominent contemporary landmarks such as Sfera Building, a five-storey culture house in Kyoto Japan, as well as for the Stockholm stores of iconic labels Gucci and Louis Vuitton, the firm is also renowned for its award-winning furniture and product designs, which are in turn manufactured by interior and furniture companies the world over. One such company is Arflex, whose products are sold exclusively in Singapore at Space Furniture. Claesson Koivisto Rune has worked with the classic Italian manufacturer for 10 years, and its founders consider the “long and fruitful relationship” as one of their finest achievements. It was also through Arflex that the trio exhibited their manufactured product designs at the Salone Del Mobile in Milan from April 4 to 9. Inspired by their Scandinavian roots in design and architecture, the firm’s works continue to hold true to its founders’ belief that buildings, and the things that go inside them, should always be “elegant, functional, and somewhat friendly in appearance”.
Presently, the team is working on a number of projects, including a restaurant concept on behalf of a client who produces dairy products and is based in Sweden’s remote countryside. “He [the client] has grown so frustrated with the lack of good restaurants in his area that he has asked us to design a roadside self-service restaurant — but of very high quality in both the architecture of the building itself, as with the food that will be served there. We think it’s a very forward-thinking project,” Koivisto comments. “I have been busy helping a family in Beijing to fulfil their dream of having a Scandinavian-type home. They are now so happy that their friends have started calling us to redo their homes. Meanwhile, we have started the total rebuilding of a seashore hotel on the west coast of Sweden, a project that will run over many years,” adds Rune. But working on assignments as a group is only a small portion of how the trio keeps busy. For one, pet projects are aplenty for Rune, who shares that he has recently been up all night mulling over the architecture of a new flat that he is moving into. The three also double as lecturers in the fields of architecture and design. “I used to have a column about architecture and design in the Swedish national daily newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, and another one in the national design magazine, Form. But after a few years, our own pursuit at Claesson Koivisto Rune swallowed up all my time and I had to resign from public writing,” recalls Claesson. “Today, I find it harder [to write for the media as an individual] because whenever I publish anything, my name is first of all associated with our practice. Lecturing is less problematic because I’m not only free to be completely narcissistic — to speak completely about myself and the work of Claesson Koivisto Rune — I’m expected to. This year, so far, I have lectured in Taiwan, Belgium, Denmark and Germany. But I’m not the only one; Eero and Ola do an equal amount of lecturing.”
Tailor-made for Arflex
Claesson Koivisto Rune designs furniture for companies around the world. One of them is classic Italian brand Arflex. The following pieces are available in Singapore.
Arflex’s armchair from the Hug collection features a certain welcoming touch to its design, with armrests that can be interpreted as outstretched “arms” in anticipation of a hug. Its steel legs are attached to a leg frame finished in solid wood. Both are available in different colours and finishes.
This article appeared in Issue 788 (July 24) of The Edge Singapore.