Award-winning Danish industrial designer Cecilie Manz (born 1972) has contributed to the catalogues of manufacturers like Fritz Hansen, Bang & Olufsen, Kasthall, Maruni and Hermes. This is Danish design – simple, useful and straight.
After graduation from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts – The School of Design in 1997 including exchange studies at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Cecilie Manz founded her own studio in Copenhagen in 1998.
Cecilie Manz’ work within furniture, glass, lighting, and ceramics has received international acclaim and is sold and exhibited all over the world. She has received numerous awards and honors for her work—amongst others The Crown Prince Couples Cultural Award and the Three-Year Working Grant from the Danish Arts Foundation.
In 2018, she was named Designer of the Year at Paris Design Fair. In 2019, she was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by French Ministry of Culture. In 1921, she received the Honorable Award from the Danish National Banks Foundation, and this year she was named Designer of the Year at dhe Scandinavian Design Awards.
“My work has always revolved around simplicity, the process of working toward a pure, aesthetic and functional object,” she says. “Nice design and quality, you might call it old-fashioned design virtues, but sometimes it’s as simple as that.”
Danish Design – Simple, Useful and Straight, written by Tor Kjolberg
Feature image (on top): Cecile Manz for B&O.