Product designer Falke Svatun was born in 1987 in Voss, Norway, and grew up in Åsgårdstrand. He studied industrial design at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia, earning his Bachelor’s degree in 2011. After graduating, he moved to Copenhagen, where he interned at Søren Rose Studio (2012-13) before going on to work for Norm Architects (2013-2014). While at Norm Architects, he began working on the design that would become the Synnes Chair (2015), a contemporary take on a classic Scandinavian dining chair designed for manufacturing company Menu. He formally established his own design studio in the autumn of 2014, working from his home in Oslo. In 2016, Svatun was awarded the honor of “Newcomer of the Year” at the Bo Bedre Awards in Oslo, receiving a grant of 100,000 NOK (11,000 Euro) that allowed him to move to a more formal studio setting, where he continues to work today. He shares the space with friend and colleague Bjørn van den Berg.
Thus far, Svatun’s work has been characterized by a clean, minimalistic aesthetic. Describing his work, the designer says, “Many of my projects to date are quite minimal, but I am planning on a few future projects that will be more wild and less calculated visually. My work often has historical references, yet—hopefully— feels new and original.”
Notable projects include Aerial (2016), a light made in collaboration with Bjørn van den Berg that earned a 2017 Wallpaper* Design Award (and seemingly references the classic Castiglioni Arco Lamp), as well as the Kantarell lighting series (2017). Both Aerial and Tumble, Svatun’s playfully balanced vase series, were first exhibited at the Structure exhibition at Ventura Lambrate during Milan Design Week 2016. The Kantarell series debuted at Everything is Connected at Ventura Lambrate during Milan Design Week 2017.
