Gifting has never been easier
Perfect if you're short on time or are unable to deliver your gift yourself. Enter your message and select when to send it.
Story by Diana Keeler
Chris L. Halstrøm is a Denmark native who inherited her passion for Nordic design from her Swedish mother and Danish father. A self-described ‘slow worker, late sleeper, and chocolate lover’, Chris designed Skagerak’s Dining collection, Work from Home Collection (including the impeccably crafted golden oiled oak Vester Chair), and the Georg collection of versatile stools and tables. Here Chris discusses how furniture should grow and adapt with us at life’s different stages, why she chose Oak for the Vester Chair, and the importance of having a distinct WFH space.
“The craftsmanship and ingredients in the extremely well made food in the hotel was something I also wanted to shine through in the dining chairs. That is why I ended up choosing the oak, which is a classic furniture material in Denmark, combined with the small brass details — for example, the handle on the back, so you can be polite and draw out the chair for the person sitting next to you.” Halstrøm says that while the Vester was originally designed to be viewed as a group within a busy restaurant — “with the rhythm of many of them being combined” — she expects them to hold up in a one-person office setting: “It should be an outstanding piece on its own.”
Pictured: The Svinkløv Badehotel hotel on Denmark's North Sea coastline.
Chris L. Halstrøm’s Vester chair has its elegant roots in exceptional misfortune: The Copenhagen-based designer originally created it in 2019 for the owners of Svinkløv Badehotel, a hotel on Denmark’s North Sea coastline, after the original 1925 structure burned to the ground. Now a part of Bloomist’s minimalist-minded WFH collection, its first use was in the hotel’s restaurant, which was then under the leadership of Bocuse d’Or-winning chef Kenneth Toft Hansen. “The hotel is situated in the north of Denmark in the sand dunes, so a focus was to bring in as much as possible of the colors found in the area,” Halstrøm says of the chair, which is made from sustainably harvested oak.
Pictured: The Vester chair designed for the hotel includes human touches like a brass rod on the back for pulling the chair in or out.
This adjustment in scale is a key element in creating a highly functional work from home space, Halstrøm says. “I think most importantly, a work-from-home space needs to feel like your own space even though it might be small in size, so you don't have to put away your things all the time,” she says. “Not everyone has room for setting up a home office, but I think it is important to have a designated space where work is all you do there, so you can ‘leave’ work and focus on other things when the day ends — and equally feel like you are going to work when you go sit at your workspace.”
A simple home office done Danish style features a versatile Georg Desk with other complementary Skagerak products including the Nomad Desk Tray designed for Skagerak by VE2. To the left, a versatile Noboru Step Ladder also works as a small side table.
Her Georg desk is tailor made for these economical environments. “I wanted to make a small — but still roomy enough — table that can be used in different situations,” she says. “It could be a dining table in a small apartment, for a café, for doing homework or drawing in a kids room — or, for example, a work-from-home work station.
For most of my furniture, I like it when they can be put in different environments if your living situation changes.” “Living situation changes” is one way of describing the upheaval of the past 18 months, an ongoing contraction and expansion that’s seen us dramatically resize our lives in favor — so far — of bringing our work lives into our homes, while our “office” lives remain, for many people, a now-distant memory. Including Halstrøm’s partner: “Luckily I have my own office, so I did not have to work from home myself during lockdown,” she says. “It was important for my partner in particular to have a designated workspace, since he was working from home for almost 17 months. And here the Georg desk certainly came in handy!”
Danish design principles including exceptional craftsmanship and exceptional materials are melded together in Chris Halstrom's simple, innovative designs for Skagerak, including the Georg Desk with Drawer and Georg Stool in the image above.
Your Shopping Cart is Empty
Browse our latest collection or check your saved favorites to add more items to your cart.
Manage your profile, track your orders, and enjoy a seamless shopping journey with us.