NØDE

NØDE design studio seeks to highlight the connections between the various components in its designs and between its different fabrication methods. Co-founders Charles Haupt and Gerrit Giebel share a background in industrial design and an appreciation for handcrafted manufacturing. The studio’s approach emphasizes human interaction with materials and surfaces, as well as constant development into methods of hand cutting textures into metal. This has been refined to a point where NØDE is able to hand carve and therefore sculpt in metals like aluminium. One of its first products, the NØDE stool, was longlisted in the 2019 Dezeen Awards in the seating design category. Their new Cøngregate table, accompanied by two of their Intermission benches, illustrates this approach in its construction as well as its ultimate functionality. Cøngregate comprises three elements: 50 mm-thick carved aluminium panels (with an initial weight of 200 kg) that slot vertically into a beam supporting a granite top. The sheer weight holds the parts together. Brutalist in their primitive machined form, the aluminium panels are softened into shape. Cøngregate is a meeting of materials and manufacturing modes; its sheer scale makes an invitation that literally draws people together.

Materials: Hand-carved aluminium, honed granite.