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Pia Seidel
News + Trends

Design with gaps: Why empty spaces are the trend

Pia Seidel
23/7/2025
Translation: machine translated
Pictures: Pia Seidel

How exciting can emptiness be? At the "3 Days of Design" in Copenhagen, furniture showed that what is missing is just as important as what is there. A trend that gently changes rooms.

It wasn't an obvious trend, more of a subtle vibe. But at the «3 Days of Design» in Copenhagen, one thing stood out: Furniture that played with voids. Chair legs, table tops, backrests - everything looked like a frame, irregular and almost wobbly. That's exactly what made them eye-catching.

Roosa Ryhänen: Design that speaks with gaps

Designers such as the Finnish Roosa Ryhänen take up this approach. Her «Sangria Shelf» focuses on organic shapes and open surfaces that create an airy, Mediterranean feel.

Made By Choice: Chairs as a symbol of freedom

The Kolho collection by Finnish label Made by Choice and artist Matthew Day Jackson also plays with freedom.

Inspired by the Apollo moon landing and the small Finnish town of Kolho, the series combines right angles with curved, serpentine silhouettes. As Jackson explains: «The space between reason and chaos is that of play. It is in this space that our human nature shows its true potential.»

The «Glits Rainbow Lounge» chair is the latest addition of rainbow plywood and Formica laminate that honours the values of the TLGBQIA community. The first 20 pieces will go out to benefit the Glits Foundation, which works to promote social justice and support marginalised communities.

Matteo Fogale: space for craftsmanship

The «Ambi Vases» by Matteo Fogale and the stonemason Tim Royal show how travertine and aluminium merge to create minimalist art pieces. Particularly striking: the two handles that look like wobbly frames. They let light and air through and play with open shapes.

Whether Matteo Fogale's material experiments, Roosa Ryhänen's playful emptiness or Matthew Day Jackson's socially critical furniture - all these works create more than function. They open up spaces, emotionally and physically, and tell stories that want to be discovered and celebrated.

Header image: Pia Seidel

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Like a cheerleader, I love celebrating good design and bringing you closer to everything furniture- and interior design- related. I regularly curate simple yet sophisticated interior ideas, report on trends and interview creative minds about their work.


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