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Design duo explores the potential of Sitka spruce, going against recent negative attention
Ne Collective: ”Many young designers feel the need to justify their work.”
By JOHAN MAGNUSSON
2 Sep 2024

Birk Manum Bjerkan and Oskar Keller both have master’s degrees in industrial design from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. With the Ne Collective project, the duo work together towards specific exhibitions and contests. 

— Being on your own as a young creative can be quite a challenge if you don’t have people to discuss your projects and collaborate with, they share. This is the core of Ne Collective. We work together and help each other towards creating good and meaningful designs that embrace elegant problem-solving in the cross-section between culture and technology. 

The brand’s first design collection, called Fra Pøbel til Møbel (From Mob to Furniture) consists of objects made of Sitka spruce. 

— The spruce originally comes from the west coast of North America and has traditionally been used in such things as masts and spars for sailboats and later aeroplane construction due to its superior strength-to-weight ratio. It was introduced to Norway, and northern parts of Europe, mostly during the second half of the last century. In Norway it was planted on a large scale along the west coast, as a material resource and protection against the wind, due to its ability to thrive in the harsh conditions of these areas, Bjerkan and Keller explain. They continue: 

— Over the past years, Sitka spruce has gotten a lot of negative attention in Norway, with a reputation for uncontrollable growth and little practical value. But, if the trees are not cut down prematurely, local Sitka spruce can produce very usable materials, with unique aesthetic characteristics along with its impressive strength-to-weight ratio.

— The negative attention on the spruce growing in Norway has created a need to find new ways of using it, to prevent this massive resource from being wasted. This reached our university at the time when Oskar was about to start his final year of study and caught his attention and desire to work with it on his master’s. The project resulted in the lounge chair Pøbel, which became the first piece in the collection.

Fra Pøbel til Møbel. Photography: Åsmund Kongsvik Aall

Not yet for sale, the duo has received interest from the contract market in Norway and now works to put up a small-scale production on several pieces, while the main goal is to find producers. The aim is to demonstrate the qualities and potential of Sitka spruce in furniture design. 

— The objects on display are practical examples of how this overlooked natural resource can be put into use.

Can you take us through the development process?

— A lot of work was done studying the material and its properties, as well as its history, especially in Norway, to understand why it has gotten its reputation and what parts of it are true or false. It turns out the material properties of the wood are excellent if the trees are allowed to grow old enough.

— It was quite challenging to find someone who could provide quality materials from Sitka spruce in Norway. When Oskar first started the project, he contacted a lot of different sawmills who all were really interested in the material but didn’t have any of it. After a long search, there was finally one mill, outside of Bergen, that had Sitka spruce in stock.

All across the Nordics, we see similar initiatives taking care of ’abandoned’ materials. Is this a sign of the times, you think?

— Probably many young designers feel the need to justify their work. To find a reason for what they do. This is probably quite typical for the generation that today’s young designers belong to. Environmental and climate-related challenges, which need urgent attention, are good topics to work with in this sense. Utilising, and making us more aware of, our natural resources is definitely an important step in tackling these challenges, Bjerkan and Keller conclude.

Photography: Åsmund Kongsvik Aall