Harrit & Sørensen and Knax – An obvious success!
The partnership around designing a new coat and hat rack has now been a success for 14 years.
Harrit-Sørensen are very versatile designers. Pictured above is the coat and hat rack KNAX for LoCa and the Commander for Hardi international.
Harrit-Sørensen is an industrial design office. For 15 years, the office has developed products for a great number of small and large companies in Denmark and abroad. Among their clients are many well-known companies, e.g. FLSmidth, Hardi International, Ambu, Coloplast and Danfoss. The office is owned by Thomas Harrit and Nicolai Sørensen.
14 years ago, the design office Harrit & Sørensen was given the assignment of designing a modern coat and hat rack. The background for this was the detection of Thorkild Lundsgård from the company Knax of a need in the market for hall equipment. Since then, the design of the rack created by Harrit & Sørensen has been a success to such a degree that Thorkild Lundsgård’s company now employs 15 staff whose primary task is to produce the rack Knax.
Knax is protected by a simple design registration, and this has worked very well for the company in the course of time. A few counterfeited products are in the Danish as well as Japanese markets, but the company does not see the scope of this as any real threat.
About the close cooperation with a production company, Nicolai Sørensen states: “Many production staff see themselves as creative people who enjoy inventing and creating new objects. It could there-fore seem scaring to invite people to participate in the creative process, because they could feel that the more enjoyable and exciting parts of their jobs might disappear. This fear is, however, completely unfounded. In all its aspects, the process is a teamwork that challenges everyone’s creativity. The designer is skilled in drawing, and this visual communication particularly demands the involvement of the client.”
Nicolai Sørensen is convinced that the design of future products will prove incredibly decisive for the individual company, and he feels the power of the good design to be totally underestimated by a great number of companies. “Design products are being developed because of the need for future products to differentiate themselves in the market. Our clients should feel that they steer clear of thinking in grooves, and the level of ambition needs, so to speak, to be kicked upstairs.”