Order as a Form of Calm: Norrgavel’s Shaker-Influenced Design
WHEN THE ROOM BREATHES – AND SO DO WE What does it mean to maintain …
Norrgavel & Cappelen Dimyr Launch ‘Tre rum’ Rug Collection 2025
A union of timeless craftsmanship and conscious design – Norrgavel and Cappelen Dimyr presents the …
Norrgavel Celebrates with Stora Blå: A Curated Anniversary Collection
30TH ANNIVERSARY Already in the early 90s, when Norrgavel was founded, many customers chose to …
Stick Sofa New Member Family by Nirvan Richter – Norrgavel
Stick sofa – new member in the family! Norrgavel’s large “stick family” will be expanded …
China-Windsor Armchair by Nirvan Richter for Norrgavel
Armchair China-Windsor Norrgavel’s furniture is made to last over time. It also means that the …
Norrgavel’s iconic armchair is now launched in the wood type oak – so long-awaited and in demand!
Finally we can present the autumn news! Norrgavel’s iconic armchair is now launched in the …
Norrgavel’s classic Pinn chair by Nirvan Richter
A relative of the Pinn chair, where the outermost back pin fuses organically with the …
Coffee table Kiltapp design by Nirvan Richter – Norrgavel
Coffee table Kiltapp A graceful and easy-to-place coffee table that offers a generous table space. …
Nirvan Richter
Nirvan Richter, founder Norrgavel and architect, wanted to design furniture he felt the market was …
New Shell sofa by Nirvan Richter – Norrgavel
Finally! I made my first sketch on a peeled lounge sofa in 2003 … but …
Daybed by Nirvan Richter – Norrgavel
Norrgavel’s daybed is an airy seating furniture that also fits well for a moment’s siesta …
Easy Chair by Nirvan Richter – Norrgavel
“Sitting on the floor in Japanese houses is a special experience. No chair, more like …
QUALITY IS THE SAME AS PRESENCE
Designers often like to claim that quality, in the sense of, say, excellent design, is in the nature of the item itself. By asking the question “Excellent for whom?”, we instead employ the concept of quality as the expression of a relationship, something that happens in the contact between the item and the person assessing it. Or designing it. Or using it.
At Norrgavel, we want to create relationships with our customers. Rather than encourage passive consumption, we try to make it easy for customers to be present in the purchasing moment and to have a relationship with the things they choose to surround themselves with – encouraging them, quite simply, to consume less but to give themselves permission to have things of greater quality.
Our intention is that a piece of Norrgavel furniture should act as your faithful servant. It should work well and make life simpler. An unobtrusive design that you only notice when using the furniture, but that is then all the more apparent. A chair that really supports the body, a handle designed to help fingers and hands to pull out a drawer. We create our furniture with the intention of it forming a backdrop to life rather than dominating. So we don’t feel that the design has to be amusing or create a sensation.
We draw our inspiration from Japanese traditions and the American Shaker style. The Shaker furniture makers said that they made their furniture for God. So second-best was not good enough! Even if, when describing our concept, we use the words Presence and Eternity rather than God, what we are talking about is exactly the same thing. Our motto is to do only what feels absolutely right, which usually matches what we are hoping to achieve. Supreme exquisiteness is what we strive for, and we try to give the whole 100% of ourselves to the process.
We do that with real pleasure, as an act of love.
We find that this approach often strikes a chord with our customers. For many people, experiencing beauty leads to insights into what is really important in their own lives.
What is really important in life? The birth of a child and the death of a close relative. Moments of total presence. That is the presence I long for. In all its simplicity. To constantly be able to follow along in life’s commute between unrestrained indulgence and quiet peace. As support during this journey, I want to surround myself with few things. Carefully selected, easy to live with and in their exquisiteness as fine as it ever gets.
Nirvan Richter