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Flemming Busk discusses Frame, his multifunctional ottoman for Globe.
By Kristi Cameron
July 2002
The same year (2000) that he graduated from the School of Architecture in
Aarhus, Denmark, with a degree in architecture and design, Flemming Busk
(b. 1967) opened his own studio and got one of his first commissions--the
Globe One sofa--from Globe Furniture. Globe One also happened to be the
first product the brand-new company was to manufacture. Busk's work
has been shown at furniture fairs in Copenhagen, Cologne, and Milan.
Frame is designer Flemming Busk's fourth project for two-year-old Danish
furniture company Globe. The multifunctional ottoman can be used alone or
in a group, with or without the tray table (sold separately, it comes in
beech, maple, mahogany, or walnut). The piece has stainless-steel legs and
is available in many different fabrics. Frame was released by Skypad in
the United States this May at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.
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Dimensions: Tray table
Length: 32.25 in.
Width: 16 in.
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Globe wanted a product that could be used in the home and in public. Lots
of my furniture can be used in either private or communal spaces. The company
works primarily in the contract market. Many customers in Europe are building
modern architecture, so I could do two things: I could go against this style
and make something very organic or follow the themes in the clients' buildings.
The top of Frame actually had another pattern in the beginning, but it was
simply too complicated to make. The lines of the interior square extended
out to the edges so there were nine squares. It couldn't be made that way
in fabric, because it wouldn't last. People don't take very good care of
furniture in public spaces. With lots of people using it every day, the
incisions in the grid would be weak points. We had to change it, but the
idea and the way you use the product are very much the same.
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Dimensions: Ottoman
Height: 17 in.
Width: 32 in.
Depth: 32 in.
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For this product I worked with a grid, a system of squares. The legs create
a square [in the corners], and the top also has a square, which you put
the tray table in. If you imagine the product as transparent, you can see
all these squares in a funny kind of three-dimensional grid.
You can have just one as an ottoman at home, but when you put two or three
or four together, you have a range of ways to use them. Three in a row make
a kind of bench or daybed. You can use the little table in different ways:
with its full length over the ottoman or with it between two ottomans, putting
it in the incisions. Four ottomans together would be perfect for a hotel
lobby, where people need to sit for five minutes and wait. You can
put the little table between them so people have somewhere to put magazines
or handbags. Used that way it's still somewhat formal because there's no
backrest.
I love products to do more than one thing. It's not always something I plan--it
just happens. I don't like decoration, but I want a product to have an identity.
People often use decoration, but if I put something on a product, it has
to be useful--not only visually but also functionally.
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