Founded in 2011 by Jase Kotan, Niels Strøyer, and Driton Memisi, Frama is a Copenhagen-based furniture and design firm providing their collaborators with the creative freedom to explore and deconstruct classical notions about common furniture. The young company is located in the old St. Paul pharmacy in the heart of the city, and the 19th century building retains its original woodwork and architectural elements giving it a unique historic feel. In arranging the space with its library of contemporary designs, Frama creates a juxtaposition that succinctly sums up the brand’s design philosophy: to highlight the use of natural materials in an analogue approach to contemporary design.
In keeping with their Nordic heritage, they have a preference for simple geometry and materials such as wood, steel, concrete, stone, and glass, and these themes translates into a strong aesthetic running through the entirety of their catalogue. Unlike many of their peers, however, innovation is not exactly a top priority for them or the designers they represent; rather, they train their gaze on standard forms and see how to improve or explore them. Working mainly with Danish designers such as Nicholai Wigg Hansen, Maribel Carlander, and B°Fex – whose revisionist and off-kilter 9.5° Chair won the Danish Design Award for Best Furniture of the Year in 2014 – they fall squarely in line with the so-called New Nordic design movement, with its notions of collectivity and functionality.
Also working under the Frama name is Frama Studio, where the founders collaborate closely with architects and clients to de develop site-specific solutions and concepts, creating unique incarnations of the Frama aesthetic.