Design | Vipp’s Morten Bo Jensen on Design Uniformity

A unified look among their products is important to Copenhagen-based design group Vipp. A lot of that ties back into Morten Bo Jensen, their chief designer who was with the company since 2006.

Jensen, according to his biography on Connox, was born in 1977. He finished his Master of Science at the Industrial Design, Aalborg University in 2003 and reached Vipp at the age of 27, where he works as chief designer today, after having worked for the bicycle designer Biomega and different architect’s offices. In an interview for the company, Jensen ties much of the design look back to a bin Vipp’s founder created more than 70 years ago.

“(Vipp founder) Holger Nielsen’s original pedal bin was not designed in the strict traditional sense, but got its visual expression in response to a series of functional criteria: A large foot so it is stable; a domed steel lid on top which is easy to clean; ears on the side of the body so it is easy to move around, a rubber ring at the base to protect the floor etc. These functional dogmas remain the starting point for our designs. For example the cover of our laundry basket is made ​​of the same thickness of steel using the same principle of production but designed in a more contemporary form. It has also become a decorative pattern consisting of approx. 1900 holes which of course has its origins in the need to ventilate laundry. The Vipp bin is also equipped with a specially developed damping mechanism making the lid close in a smooth and damped motion. On the Vipp mini table, it was therefore an evident choice to keep in line with Holger’s ideas and work from a principle of damped legs to ensure stability and moreover to enhance the experience of a solidly designed everyday product.”

For illustration, here is a video about the aforementioned bin.

This design sense continues in what our Chief Editor Garth Clark calls the brand’s “hard-edged” minimalism, which can be seen in Jensen’s salt and pepper shaker designs below. The silver cog-like structures also seem to be a common motif in the company’s work. More of the company’s minimal aesthetic is evidenced by a brunch set done by a different designer. Both products are profiled below.

Above image: Morten Bo Jensen of Vipp. Photographs courtesy of the company.

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