Oslo, Norway

 Norwegian designer Jonas Stokke explains that one of the most important aspects in the planning stage was for him and Engesvik to understand what would be the task of designing new furniture for Norwegian furniture company Vestre to complement the new Munchmuseet designed by the Spanish architectural firm Estudio Herreros

“We discussed a lot back and forth and were challenged by the museum as a concept, and asked ourselves how a museum for Munch differs from, for example, a Goya or Picasso museum?”

“We felt great reverence for the assignment and to develop a very good product, so we devoted a lot of time to the project.”

An essential part of a museum building is of course the interiors and the furniture. It is often a difficult balancing act where the design and the colors should add value, but without taking over the visual experience.

In 2017, a national design competition was announced, where the winner was given the prestigious assignment to create a furniture series for the museum. 

In fierce competition, designers Andreas Engesvik and Jonas Stokke were named winners. Soon after, Vestre won the tender for the production of the benches, and the work of developing the Munch series started.

The project was initially focused on designing a single bench, but as the benches with and without a backrest took shape, the designers saw how the design could be expanded to also encompass chairs and café tables. 

The Munch series now consists of benches and lounge chairs as well as a café table and chair. 

The chairs and café tables can be found in the restaurant and the bar on the top floor of the museum and the café on the ground floor, while the benches and lounge chairs are scattered throughout the museum. 

When Andreas Engesvik and Jonas Stokke designed the first Munch benches, they decided that it was important that the museum’s visitors should be able to sit down, lean back, and take a break from the tour.

“The museum is also built so that you can move upwards, directly to a special department, without going through all the halls. We wanted to make room for a break exactly where the visitors come out of one department and are on their way to move on to the next one,” Stokke states.

So, instead of following the tradition of making long narrow benches that encourage rather short breaks, the designers chose to create comfortable sofa benches that invite a moment of relaxation and contemplation.

“Even if it is a museum, things do not have to be uncomfortable. You can quickly draw some narrow flat wooden benches with thin leather cushions. But we wanted visitors to be able to take a break and really rest. And then you are going to need ergonomics in the back and a shaped seat,” he continues.

The benches and the chairs are made up of layers of resilient steel mesh draped over a simple steel frame and are available with or without molded cushions made of wool textile.

All three elements each have properties that complete the furniture’s function and design: the weight of the frame helps to make the furniture stable, the steel mesh adapts to the body for maximum ergonomics and the cushions contribute with comfort and a warm and tactile feel.

Since much of the museum’s interior is quite spartan, the designers wanted the furniture to act as a counterpart. 

Therefore, the work of finding the right colors and materials was also of great importance. 

The designers started by looking at hundreds of Edvard Munch paintings, to develop colors that reflected their personal interpretations of Munch’s paintings.

“The colors were another challenge that we solved by mixing our own colors that are unique to the museum,” Stokke adds. 

“These colors were scanned in Norwegian paint producer Jotun’s laboratory and were then converted into facade varnish. We named the three colors Skin, Hair, and Night, and they are exclusively made for the museum.”

“Using Vestre’s furniture indoors is not a new thing but the use within a museum suits Vestre well due to the high quality and guarantee we always deliver,” says Thomas Sund. 

“The furniture can withstand immediate use and wear, which is crucial for a place that will have such great throughput and demands.” 

Project: Munch Series
Designers: Andreas Engesvik and Jonas Stokke
Manufacturer: Vestre AS