Anna Øren, a talented Industrial Designer, was hired to a task in making a new sofa that will have a Scandinavian expression which is called Eira because the sofa is linked to its Norwegian origin which means a Norse female name. Read on and enjoy!

Brunstad wanted to make a new an modern sofa. They hired me for the task. The task was that the new sofa had to have an Scandinavian expression and It had to be ready for Stockholm Furniture Fair 2016. I looked at all existing sofas in the market, and I found that many of them were very masculine, heavy and square. There were very few in the market of sofas that were light, organic and feminin. And in my point of view, there is no point of developing a product if it is not better in function and new in looks. So I guess the inspiration was searching and sketching for organic shapes that I felt was different, but not weird. And repeating the organic shapes to make it calm for the eye.

- Anna Øren

I was overwhelmed that I was given this task, and that the task was so free. It was fantastic to let the mind wonder and make many different concepts. The most important tool is my Moleskin sketchbook. Here I draw instant ideas. After drawing perhaps 150 sketches, I use painter to make perhaps 30-40 visualizations of concepts that communicates with the customer. When three of the sketches was chosen, I 3D modeled them in Solid Edge. Here I get the proportions regarding ergonomics and aesthetics right, and starts developing the series of products including the details. I use only Bunkspeed for rendering, quick and ok result. I give the 3D files to the customer who take care of further construction that fits their production.

- Anna Øren

Eira has not one straight surface, the idea was that all parts of the sofa should be designed, not only the frontal part. So the seat has curved surface underneath, and the back has the same curve on the backside. This can only be done if the production is like Brunstad, it has moulded foam inside, and everything else is handmade.

- Anna Øren

Anna Øren

NokoAnna focuses on innovative, contemporary and environmentally friendly concept development, inspired by Scandinavian culture. The company provides a full spectrum of design; from idea sketches to 3D modeling in Solid Edge. The owner of NokoAnna, Anna Øren, has a decade of experience being a successful industrial designer. She has through her 11 years as creative director at Hareide Design won several international and national awards for her design, including Red Dot, best of the best, IF Gold and over half a dozen Norwegian Award for Design Excellence. Anna has a broad and varied experience with design; including industrial design from a-z, project management, future research and concept development, hosting workshops and seminars, strategy development and manufacturing. You can find more of her works on her Behance profile or website.