Story | 祖慧
Does high-tech really need to look stone cold and soulless? Not according to Danish design company Bolia that merges cutting-edge technology with furniture design to deliver today’s quintessential Scandinavian style.
The Jalou console table designed by Caurier & Gonçalves, from France and Portugal respectively, brings back the most beautiful design details of the old world, such as wooden venetian sliding doors that were once used for hotel TV cabinets of the past.
Established in 2000, Bolia CEO, Lars Lyse, maintains that the company is as much a design company as a technology outfit, aiming to use technology to make every task easier to maximum effect.
Dazingfeelsgood from Singapore won the Bolia design award in 2017 with Latch Coffee, which looks like a sculpture with its irregular shape, inspired by picturesque Asian rice paddies.
Lyse loves to say the company is always in a beta state, meaning it’s being constantly reinvented; at Bolia, change is its norm. In fact, substantial investment is made each year into revamping the décor of its dozens of stores.
The Core Sideboard, by German designers Hertel & Klarhoefer, has the same DNA as the classic Danish chair from more than half a century ago. The braided cords used on the face of the sideboard come from the small Danish town of Randers.
Sure, the Scandinavian design aesthetic has been refined over more than a century. But as a high-tech design company, Bolia doesn’t need to sell UFO-like, techno-cyber futuristic furniture; it knows how to maintain traditional intelligence while embracing technology.
The Ley mirror, by Swiss DIIIS design studio, cleverly and beautifully hides storage between two mirrors.
While Bolia comes up with new designs and gimmicks year after year, the Cloud by Yonoh Creative Studio stays strong.
Its latest design is about a return to nature. Bolia’s main producers are European workshops, where all its timbers are sourced from certified European forests. As much as possible, it uses marine-friendly plastic and other renewable materials in its production. All leather materials are traceable and no hazardous chemicals are added in the production process. It insists on having the furniture assembled by professionals at the workshop to ensure they are solid and durable.
