SOFIE KINCK, Beck & Kinch Studio, Aarhus Denmark

I like to soften up technology. Integrate it with the textiles.
I dream of this fabric that would adjust itself to peoples’ behaviour and sound in a room. Sort of an AI applied to acoustics. That would be cool.

Sofie says she’s designing to the background.
- In an era where it’s all about making some noise, drawing attention, getting seen, I seek the beauty of subordination, she explains. Sofie is an architect, Ph.d in designing atmospheres, and she welcomes you warmly in this high stucco, painted floors apartment overlooking an industrial harbour area somewhere in Denmark. Her mother, AnneMette is there too, and no doubt about the relation with Sofie, they have the same open, curious regard behind massively framed glasses.

Their place is a living lab at the intersection of art, interior and textiles. Here, a heavy woven black and white structure. There, a balcony filled with copper structures, in order to observe how the verdigris prospers in the ever-shifting spring weather.
- The artistic work allows us to observe: the process, the transformation, the effect of time, AnneMette explains about the art projects’ affiliation with the more commercial work. Their studio, Beck & Kinch, specializes in creating intriguing spaces that combine aesthetic experiences with well-sought sound-absorption, everything created by hand. They hold a heavy portfolio, almost shyly mentioning names like Chanel, Dior, Armani.

Two large looms rest in the middle-room, one of them stringed up with copper treads.

- Yeah, it might bleed a little if you cut yourself on the thin strings, remembers AnneMette,
- But when we worked with brass a few years back, it was much worse, really.
And continues to explain that you have two types of weavers: Those in to technique and those in to materials. She is the latter. Always using a plain weave and then letting years of experience, research and know-how about materials decide the rest.

Sofie is the concept-maker. The investigator of how indoor environments affect human thoughts, feelings, and behaviour. Mixing natural materials with sensors, LED-lightning or similar is a thing.
- I like to soften up technology. Integrate it with the textiles. I dream of this fabric that would adjust itself to peoples’ behaviour and sound in a room. Sort of an AI applied to acoustics. That would be cool.
Just like her mother, she’s all about tactility:
- Something is lost if the only interaction with reality is through a screen, she states, rubbing her fingers against each other to sort of emphasise.

They have a common language to talk about perfection.

When a fabric, an artwork, a sculpture is perfect, it tastes good. AnneMette clicks her tongue to illustrate the delight when the right expression is achieved. They exchange glances. Things must never be too neat. You need to provoke to be remembered. They constantly go abroad, always pushing the boundaries for what should be next; They’re a surprising couple. With a quietly extraordinary collaboration.

REYKJAVIK

Available in nature’s finest materials. Covered in classic, high-quality Kvadrat wool or coming in a rough, rocky, anodized aluminum-version. With it’s 360-degree sound, Reykjavik combines the highly intuitive with the aesthetically attractive.

Moving to my beat.