Exhibition September 17, 2021 – January 9, 2022

As a fan of Danish design brands, chances are that you already own or covet a product designed by Cecilie Manz. This exhibition is an immersive experience in Manz’s design process; to behold, sense and appreciate her elaborative approach to realizing the ultimate product.

Presenting the diversity of her work in prototypes, industrial projects and one-offs – spanning bathtubs, cutlery and furniture to stepping stones, porcelain, lighting and bags – the exhibition focus is on the details, with a cabinet of treasures showcasing eclectic references, inspirational objects, samples and an insistent dedication to coloration.

Based on Manz’s personal design process, the show homes in on selected projects to recount the stories behind them. Manz’s work evokes a sense of finding the needle in the haystack, a circuitous approach to the solution; a laborious minutiae of contemplations, doubts, templates and quirky prototypes. A painstaking and persistently iterative process.

Gain a unique insight into Manz’s work processes; into commissioned designs created in close collaboration with a manufacturer versus her experimental, “freewheeling” projects. The design processes may be brief, lengthy, lavish or lean, but the methodology is essentially the same in the trajectory from intuition to a finished design.

For Manz, the outcome, be it a loudspeaker or a bathtub, is an accomplished summation of the stages that went into its making. Superficially, each design holds instant, straightforward – often archetypical – appeal, but the considerable efforts that go into them are what make great design so compelling. Here we have the needle in the haystack.