Laboratorium: Anders Hermansen

LABORATORIUM is a series of special exhibitions that offer insight into how far we, as humans, have come as creators of form. It presents groundbreaking and exemplary design from the present day, while also shedding light on the design process – from the initial spark of an idea to the finished product or piece. The exhibition raises questions about how design comes to be, who creates it, and what the prerequisites are for its creation.

The first LABORATORIUM exhibition features the work of the award-winning industrial and furniture designer Anders Hermansen (born 1960). Hermansen has designed the exhibition as a total design, where visitors literally move through his suspended universe of thought and design, constructed from steel wire.

Anders Hermansen thinks with his hands and always in three dimensions. His design process is a journey into both the object and himself. He has a direct and natural approach to the process, following a feeling rather than working from theory or symbolism. He is deeply interested in what the hand can do – the intuitive sense of form and atmosphere that inspires the next step in the design. Hermansen’s wire sketch universes reflect the life he himself wishes to lead, both through objects and in architecture. His method invites the viewer into his design world and process, exploring what the object reveals in return.

During his studies, Anders Hermansen began designing his products using steel wire, which became his preferred sketching method. In the early years after graduating from the School of Applied Arts in 1982, he developed a series of wire-frame chairs that balanced between sculpture and high-tech style. This led to designs for the Danish design and furniture house Paustian, lighting manufacturer Louis Poulsen, the design company Engelbrechts, and a more than 20-year tenure as chief designer at Bang & Olufsen, followed by a role as chief designer and membership of the advisory board of the electronics company LG. More recently, Hermansen has developed a groundbreaking electric bicycle built around an innovative frame design.

The exhibition, which is the first major presentation of Anders Hermansen’s designs, showcases furniture, objects, and wire sketches from throughout his career, along with a series of informative films, in which he shares insights into his design universe.