Q&A with Jacob Plejdrup from dk3
To gather a deeper and more intimate connection with the artists and artisans we work with, we asked each to answer a series of questions. We will be showcasing each Q&A in correlation with our familial content. Enjoy!
x Shop Zung
Without giving away your location, describe where you are right now. What are the things you see, smell, or hear around you?
I see our beautiful furniture on show at our office and I smell the wood and the surface treatments. If I go out on my office balcony – my office is on the first floor – I smell the Indian Summer.
Taste, touch, smell, sound, sight — which of the five senses do you rely on the most? Why?
That´s a tough one, but I guess – as a designer – I rely on sight the most. It's my guiding light – it's what keeps me going – enjoying the beautiful sight of beautiful things and creating them.
How has this relationship evolved over time? Could you describe one of your favorite moments or projects working with our Studio?
Our favourite project with Studio Zung is without doubt the Maison Duane in Tribeca, NYC with our JEPPE UTZON TABLE #1 and our RABA SIDEBOARD. Such a beautiful environment and interior design!
We want to know more about your creative process, walk us through it. How do you begin your projects? Do you anchor it with an image, a material, color, feeling? How do you come to a stopping point and know your work is complete, if you ever think so?
This is a very difficult question to answer. It's a process of creativity that can come from visiting New York City, visiting an Art Gallery or seeing certain objects in the nature when walking. Most of our objects are made from solid wood – or already designed by Poul Cadovius decades ago – and I know exactly when it's complete. You can feel it.
How would you describe your work? How do other people describe your work?
Because I don't work as a full-time designer, the design process happens on occasion. As described above. It can happen anywhere.
What is your favorite object or piece of furniture you designed? What about one from a different designer?
Without doubt the TEN TABLE, that I co-designed together with my Danish design-colleague Mr. Christian Troels. The lines and the craftsmanship in and of this table is amazing. It's so much “true aesthetics” (dk3's punch-line) and long last craftsmanship.
From other designers I'm a huge fan of mid-century Danish great Poul Cadovius, who amongst so many other things designed the ROYAL SYSTEM shelving system from 1948. It's maybe one of the most classic shelving systems ever made/built. It was one of the first furniture pieces world wide to be hung on the wall – away from the floor to be able to use the squaremeters of the home better. Poul Cadovius was a genius.
Think of an object in your home that has the most significance to you. Could you share with us what it is and the memory behind it?
It's the FLOWER LAMP by Poul Cadovius designed in 1968 – which dk3 by the way will be launching next week at 3 DAYS OF DESIGN in Copenhagen. I bought it vintage in South Africa because I wanted to use it in my private home and as a prototype if dk3 was to re-launch it one day. To me, it's more an installation than a lamp actually. I love the mix of flower & lamp. And it leads my thoughts back to my Grandparents (the late 60-ies).
We live in a society where so much of our identity is surrounded by the things we consume whether that be the things we buy, the food we eat, or the content we see, along with the fast paced nature of it. How do you approach mindful living and sustainability in the context of your work and in your everyday life?
Thank you for a very good and important question. First of all, I live really close to our HQ and I'm actually right now in the proces of moving even closer to it. So from December I will be able to drive my bike around the Fjord of Vejle up to our HQ on the hill. It does not get much better than that. Second, almost all of our furniture designs are produced in solid wood taken from plantations or it's FSC registered and it's being produced locally (Denmark) at 4 different carpentries.
So to put it short: I personally don't want to sit in car-ques every day and I don't want to drag stuff from one end of the world to the other. That would wear me out.
What do you envision for your brand in five years?
To be doing exactly the same as we do today – only even more sustainable.
What do you want people to take away from your brand? How do you want to be remembered? What is the legacy you imagine for your brand?
Our punch-line TRUE AESTHETICS says it all: We simply want to be good and fair towards everyone and everything involved in the dk3-process. And we have extremely high aesthetical standards.
If we keep on sticking hard to that, then that will also be our legacy.
Are you looking forward to anything in the next few months? Any new exciting projects or plans?
Yes. We will be working even harder and even more focused on sustainability in the coming years.
Photo courtesy of Jacob Plejdrup, dk3, and Adrian Gaut