Dezeen Magazine

BERG by Thorunn Arnadottir

Product news: these hexagonal storage boxes by Icelandic designer Thorunn Arnadottir use varying shades of grey to distort perspective.

BERG by Thorunn Arnadottir

Named BERG, the monochrome collection comprises three differently sized containers that can be used for storage, as stools or as low tables.

Thorunn Arnadottir used a hexagonal shape to reference the basalt columns that are common to the Icelandic landscape. "The basalt columns are by nature very geometric and can have beautiful disorientating shadows in them," she explains.

BERG by Thorunn Arnadottir

To exaggerate the geometry of the objects, the designer applied three contrasting shades of grey to accentuate the shadows and highlights. She then created a false perspective by dividing the lids into thirds to mimic a two-dimensional drawing of a cube.

Arnadottir comments: "I wanted to play with the boundaries of 'faking' something, to make it look like a natural product, a heavy massive piece of stone, but at the same time have something that's obviously artificial by mixing materials and playing with optical illusion geometry."

BERG by Thorunn Arnadottir

The collection is produced by Icelandic kitchens brand Brúnás and each piece is made from offcuts of faux-stone veneer and MDF. Narrow recesses along the lips of the objects makes it easier to remove the lids.

BERG by Thorunn Arnadottir

Thorunn Arnadottir presented BERG at the Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík for DesignMarch, which took place from 14-17 March. Other projects on show included a seal-shaped blanket and a pair of aluminium tables with uneven sand-cast surfaces.

BERG by Thorunn Arnadottir

Here's a project description from the designer:


Thorunn Arnadottir debuted her new collection BERG, made by Brúnás, at Harpa in Reykjavík, during Design March 14-17 March.

Brúnás are a cabinet making workshop that works a lot with surfaces, veneers and laminates, that imitate natural materials. Their specialisation is fulfilling the customer's dream of the perfect kitchen unit, in affordable yet durable materials.

BERG make use of their specialised skills at imitating natural materials: they are faux basalt columns, hexagonal rock formations that are a prominent feature in Icelandic landscape.

For BERG, Brúnás can use smaller offcuts of their faux stone veneer and MDF from their workshop, which are usually too small for kitchen tops.

BERG come in three different heights and can be used as small side tables, stools and storages. They can grouped together in clusters to form a bigger landscape of tables. The edge of the lid and the edge of the box are sloped in opposite directions, creating a good grip to lift the lid off the box.

BERG is part of a collaboration project between Thorunn and Make by Þorpið.