Grandson of Menu Founder Takes Reins at Audo Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN — At simply 30 years outdated, Joachim Kornbek Engell-Hansen, the grandson of Menu founder Simon Hansen and son of Bjarne Hansen (who turned Menu into a life-style model) finds himself on the forefront of Denmark’s ongoing design heritage. The daddy of three babies is now on the inventive helm of Design Holding’s fortified Danish luxurious model Audo Copenhagen, the results of merging By Lassen and Menu.

On the Audo Copenhagen get together throughout Copenhagen’s annual design pageant, 3daysofdesign, which closes Friday, the newly named model showcased designs by famed 20^th century Danish modernists: the Kubus assortment by architect Mogens Lassen, the Drained Man by his brother Flemming Lassen and Joachim’s first designs as Audo Copenhagen’s design and model director.

The occasion was set inside the town’s Audo Home, which was conceived by Bjarne in collaboration with Norm Architects, who’ve served as inventive administrators and designers of a number of Menu designs. Inside a sunlit red-brick courtyard, a world design crowd sipped on fruity cocktails and contemplated the route of Scandinavian design — which throughout the board, was notably extra colourful this season than ever. Audo Copenhagen, whose assortment was stuffed with cozy earth tones, was no exception.

On the Audo Home’s first flooring, New York-based inside stylist and artistic director Colin King designed an set up set contained in the penthouse of the multifunctional area. Items from King’s newest assortment might be displayed amongst an immersive floral set up in collaboration with Alex Crowder of Area Research Flora; the brand new area swathed in an eclectic mixture of upholstery materials by Italian cloth and wall-coverings maker Dedar, Christian Lacroix (by Designers Guild) and Kelly Wearstler, amongst others. WWD caught up with Kornbek Engell-Hansen at Audo Copenhagen.

WWD: How does it really feel to take over the design technique for the 2 manufacturers and proceed your loved ones’s legacy on a extra world scale? 

Joachim Kornbek Engell-Hansen: My grandfather began Menu and I’ve been on the firm for the previous 12 years working with the creatives in design. About six or seven years again, I absolutely took over the inventive route of Menu. After we bought the corporate, we acquired By Lassen, and it has since been centered round Menu. On the time, we didn’t essentially know we needed to merge the merchandise, however we knew they need to be talking to one another.

We now have been engaged on the merge intensively for the previous six months and now for 3daysofdesign it’s all coming alive. I’m extraordinarily pleased with the place we at the moment are with Audo Copenhagen and I sit up for telling the story to the world.  

What do you’ve gotten in widespread together with your grandfather? 

J.Ok.E.H.: My grandfather based, however to be truthful, my dad was main the model route and he’s been within the firm since he was 18 years outdated and has been the designing pressure of Menu. With him, we realized we perceive creatives rather well. We additionally realized we’d like individuals round us. 

My dad was the driving pressure that led us to actually perceive creatives. He acknowledged the truth that we’d like good individuals to each work and collaborate with us. His purpose, and now mine, has been to work externally with extraordinary designers, accomplice with the perfect photographers and perceive that the industrial aspect of enterprise is crucial.

What is going to the Audo Copenhagen aesthetic be going ahead? 

J.Ok.E.H.: We’re constructing on the muse of what we already created for Menu; truly the transformation began 10 years in the past after we went from a kitchen accent model to a life-style model with a minimalist strategy to design. What we do is take away pointless ornaments [accents] and strip the product right down to the core. We focus as regards to matter and there’s a cleanness to the design that could be very attention-grabbing. After we re-branded Menu, every thing was white and black metal, however proper now we’re in a part the place we’re including a number of heat from the inside usually.

The artwork route for Audo Copenhagen was created in shut collaboration with Christian Møller Andersen (photographer & artwork director at Kinfolk). He performed a central position within the design means of our new idea retailer on the Audo Home. We now have added extra colours to the area each by way of new upholstery and wall paint.

How does it really feel to take over your loved ones’s legacy post-merger?

J.Ok.E.H.: Typically once you speak about a giant change, like renaming our model, it could possibly sound actually large, however after being part of it for thus a few years, it simply wound up naturally evolving. There was undoubtedly an unbelievable urge to do it effectively and enter into a brand new part, so I’m comfortable we’re right here. For my father, it’s been a dream for him to determine Audo and we talked rather a lot about altering the identify. We needed to take the time to do it effectively and create a home the place everybody can are available to see what our model is doing whereas having fun with the open areas, such because the store and restaurant.
 
How do you handle a restaurant and a retailer as effectively?

J.Ok.E.H.: The restaurant is managed by an exterior accomplice. It was vital for us to staff up with a restaurant accomplice who understood the idea, concept and feeling of Audo Copenhagen. We each intend to be a home for the local people in addition to a vacation spot for design lovers visiting from everywhere in the globe. Coming into our home ought to really feel like a house away from residence and the restaurant accomplice may be the primary pleasant face you meet, which means that they need to be model ambassadors in the identical method as in the event that they had been employed by us.

What’s your first reminiscence working within the household enterprise? 

J.Ok.E.H. There are lots of reminiscences as Menu was at all times a part of my life. From becoming a member of a number of conferences with my father once I was only a child to thrilling new launches, the perfect reminiscences have been when we now have one thing new to share with the world. I bear in mind the sunshine in my father’s eyes when he received a brand new concept for the model; that’s one thing that has at all times been an enormous inspiration to me.

I by no means started working with my grandfather. Rising up, I used to be touring with him to manufacturing websites, rising up, sitting in hour-long conferences throughout my teenage years, and it wasn’t probably the most attention-grabbing factor on this planet, nevertheless it was important. 

What is going to you’re taking from By Lassen? 

J.Ok.E.H.: We’re proud to now have iconic items, such because the Drained Man chair and Kubus Candleholder from the By Lassen assortment within the Audo portfolio.

We maintain very iconic items — Drained Man, Kubus; [you can] see it in three out of 4 home windows in Copenhagen … The upholstery merchandise, you may see them on the web site as effectively; they’re voluminous and stylish, just like the Kubus. All made quite simple and you’ll see the product geometry of sq. design. 

What kind of client will this new model enchantment to? 

J.Ok.E.H.: With an in depth number of merchandise, we provide choices which might be each heritage-driven and which might be simply accessible and enchantment to a broad client base. Most just lately we collaborated with modern designer Colin King, who we labored with to create equipment which have constantly been bought by a variety of shoppers around the globe.

We’re working from very heritage-driven merchandise which might be priced at a excessive value and, in fact, greater client with a powerful shopping for energy. We did a collaboration with Colin King and centered round artwork items that he discovered. They [accessories] are cheap to purchase into as effectively. We don’t need to simply phase in a single place; it’s a contemporary method of broad span in a client attain the place they purchase into the identical universe with a broad vary of merchandise.

What’s your e-commerce enterprise like within the U.S.? 

J.Ok.E.H. The U.S. e-commerce website is managed by Audo, we now have a warehouse within the U.S., and we now have a neighborhood setup over there. We’re doing upholstery out of Mexico to facilitate U.S. enterprise. 

Would you want your youngsters to observe in your footsteps? 

J.Ok.E.H.: We’d be pleased with no matter profession they select after they’re older. My spouse could be very musical and I’ve a sense they inherited these talents.