With a strict focus on creating beautiful objects for everyday use, the Danish design brand explores timelessness and universality.

<a href="https://framacph.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Frama</a>, a Danish multidisciplinary design brand, has a strong, particularly <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/scandinavian-style-furniture-design-menu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scandinavian</a> point of view. An emphasis on quality materials, organic forms, and a stripped-back approach to decorating informs most of Frama&rsquo;s projects, from <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/lee-boom-interior-designer-fashioning-design-book" target="_blank" rel="noopener">furniture</a> to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/house-of-bo-fragrance-perfume-bernardo-moller-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fragrance</a> to <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/lo-dossier-international-interior-homeware-designers-home-design" target="_blank" rel="noopener">homewares</a>. The brand also outfits commercial spaces, including restaurants and retail stores around the world. Niels Str&oslash;yer Christophersen, Frama&rsquo;s founder and creative director, is at the heart of the brand&rsquo;s decidedly minimal aesthetic.
Before founding Frama in 2010, Christophersen worked on construction sites. &ldquo;This helped form my taste for raw, pure materials, and taught me to appreciate minimal, bare spaces,&rdquo; he says.
Though the brand&rsquo;s offerings are far-reaching, each launch is subject to careful consideration. &ldquo;We try not to produce more than 10 or 15 new products per year,&rdquo; says&nbsp;Christophersen. Frama is already gearing up for several new launches in the coming months, from collaborations with <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/festen-interior-design-founders-charlotte-de-tonnac-hugo-sauzay" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designers</a> to a new line of ceramics, kitchen utensils, and additional furniture pieces.
L&rsquo;OFFICIEL dives into the curated world of Frama with Christophersen and the brand&rsquo;s director of communications, Teodora Kolchagova.

Frama founder photographed by Maureen M. Evans

L&rsquo;OFFICIEL: What was the idea when you first started Frama?
NIELS STR&Oslash;YER CHRISTOPHERSEN: It wasn&rsquo;t so much about creating products as it was about thinking of a space for expression. The products came to concretize these reflections, to give body to emotions. Our first collection was made of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/chic-ceramics-pottery-instagram" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ceramics</a>, which represented our DNA: simple, useful, durable, and clean, with a neutral color palette. I would like to propose creations for everyday use, but with character and a strong presence, so that they aren&rsquo;t boring.

"Frama doesn&rsquo;t just want to sell products&mdash;we want to express something multidimensional."

L&rsquo;O: What are the biggest challenges you have faced?
NSC: It&rsquo;s a very personal journey. You&rsquo;re building a business, but there&rsquo;s a world, a market, that you have no control over. You want everyone on your team to be happy and free to express themselves. When you don&rsquo;t work according to trends, you have to think about still being relevant and contemporary. I think we&rsquo;re getting there! We always try to surprise our customers&mdash;and surprise ourselves too. I was watching a documentary the other night about the Italian singer Lucio Dalla, who never did what was expected of him. If Frama got too predictable, then we&rsquo;d have to worry.
TEODORA KOLCHAGOVA: Some brands produce certain products only because they know they will work commercially. Here, everyone has a voice in the chapter; we have the freedom to experiment. There is a playfulness. We can&rsquo;t always produce what we have in mind, but that&rsquo;s the beauty of being part of Frama.

Frama Kitchen Interior photographed by Kim Holtermand

L&rsquo;O: How do you grow your business while still remaining true to these values?
NSC: We&rsquo;ve expanded into different categories. In 2016, we published our first book, Dialogues, and then in 2020 launched the St. Pauls Apothecary collection, a line of skincare and fragrance. The dynamic between this launch and other creations, such as bath linens, more recently, was consistent.&nbsp;
TK: <a href="https://framacph.com/blogs/projects/st-pauls-apothecary-shop" target="_blank" rel="noopener">St. Pauls Apothecary</a> was the perfect invitation to explore Frama&rsquo;s universe as a gateway to our furniture and home goods.&nbsp;
NSC: A few months ago, we opened our caf&eacute;, Apotek 57, in <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/copenhagen-spring-summer-2021-fashion-week-scandi-street-style" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Copenhagen</a>, which also serves as a showroom for our creations. We like the idea that food brings people together. Moreover, we are launching a line of kitchen furnishings, but all this has happened organically&mdash;we thought of it after opening the caf&eacute;. 
L&rsquo;O: What does &ldquo;Frama&rdquo; mean?
NSC: It&rsquo;s up to everyone to make their own interpretation... But I had this name in mind for a long time. It&rsquo;s universal and easy to remember. Typographically, it was strong too.
TK: Between frame and <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/tags/prada" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Prada</a>!

L&rsquo;O: What is your design philosophy?
TK: Objects have meaning. They are made to be used on a daily basis, to last and be passed down, and to take on new dimensions. You have to learn to live with objects.
NSC: Frama doesn&rsquo;t just want to sell products&mdash;we want to express something multidimensional, thinking about the space we live in. So many aspects are interwoven in a living space: the food that one prepares in it, the conversations that one holds there, the materials that decorate it. When we present ourselves as a universe larger than just a set of products, people are more receptive and feel more involved. They expect a particular commitment to sustainability. 
L&rsquo;O: To what extent is Frama a <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/travel-living/scandinavian-style-furniture-design-menu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Scandinavian brand</a>?
NSC: I was reading a book about a Japanese architect who said that throughout his career, he wanted to create international architecture that wasn&rsquo;t Japanese. But everyone reminded him of his origins. Later in his life, he admitted that no matter what he did, he would remain Japanese. As far as I am concerned, I will always be Scandinavian. But I can be influenced by work from other countries; we travel a lot, and our collaborators come from everywhere. A South Korean friend told me that Frama was the most authentically Danish brand, that we were the new Fritz Hansen or Carl Hansen.

Interior Design Brand Frama Embodies Scandanavian Minimalism

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