Furniture Manufacturer

Brdr. Krüger

When we met Julie Krüger in the showroom of Brdr. Krüger in Copenhagen, asking for a dining chair, we immediately felt a connection to her. With pure heart and full of passion she explained the furniture pieces, their craftsmanship and their types of wood – friendly and patiently she didn’t get tired of doing so. As a representative part and co-owner of the family-run furniture brand Brdr. Krüger, Julie not only knows a lot about furniture manufacturing, but also how to lead a tradition-conscious company into the future with fresh impulses, designer collaborations and that special “modern twist“.

The Sturgheons: Can you please introduce yourself: who are you, where are you from and what do you do?

Julie Krüger: My name is Julie Krüger, I’m 41 years old, and I lived almost my entire life in a small part of Copenhagen, Denmark, called Frederiksberg. I’m the co-owner in our family company Brdr. Krüger alongside with my big brother Jonas Krüger. In 2005 I finished my education as a traditional tailor, and worked in different theaters and workshops until 2011, where I desisted to enter the family business with my brother.

Your ancestors founded the company in 1886 as a woodturning workshop. In the meantime, Brdr. Krüger is now run by the 5th generation of the family. Can you tell us more about the development of your company? What has remained, what has changed?

I will try to make it short, but it’s actually a rather long story.

Our ancestors started the company in 1886, brothers Theodor and Ferdinand Krüger. The company produced traditional wood turned objects, as a subcontractor to other companies or projects. Basic objects such as door handles, sofa legs/chair legs, small objects. Basically, every round object produced in wood, was turned either by hand or by simple machines. Over time, machines became more advanced and competition from Asia and Eastern Europe grew, and other materials such as plastic/steel etc. became available and affordable. 

When I look at our history, there are some very important marks in the timeline, I will try to explain in steps.

1996: Disagreements between Union and employers led to a long strike. Our parents Jyliane and Niels Krüger, who run the company at that time and have been highly affected by the crises, choose to completely change the product line by focusing only on design objects such as the Kay Bojesen monkey and the Hans Bølling tray table. By changing the focus from pieces of a design to a complete design, they added value to the product. The decision that our parents took, changed our future, and avoided a high competition and very low prices pressure, and “made in Denmark” gave us another story to tell. I was at that time 16 years old, and I remember very clearly how difficult the decision was to make. Today I know that this was essential for our future history.

“A new turn on tradition”: My brother and I wanted to focus on our own furniture line and enlarge our brand. In 2012 we started collaborating with Oeo Studio to create a company and product strategy. Enlarging our design values and creating “a new turn on tradition” was our main focus. Craftsmanship and quality need good design, otherwise good quality becomes irrelevant. We wanted to stand on the shoulders of the golden age but facing the future. The main goals in our products are timeless design with a modern twist and high quality.

Wallpaper Handmade: 2015 we collaborated with Tomáš Libertíny in the annual Wallpaper Handmade exhibition in Milan. Artists, designers and craftsmen together create an object or product for the exhibition for a unique piece. Looking back, it was a very expensive and difficult process with a very short deadline, and for a small company like ours, it was a big thing. David Thulstrup later saw our video of the making, and this started our collaboration and birth of Arv collection when he was designing the interior for Noma.

And when did the design aspect become more important and what was the decisive point for establishing yourself as a furniture brand rather than a woodturning workshop? 

My brother Jonas and I started working at the company back in 2011. We were the first family members of Krügers, that didn’t have a woodturning education. We really needed to bring our own take to the company, and our strong believe is that without great timeless design, great craftsmanship will not stand alone. We slowly started to create our own line of products, crafted in our workshop in Værløse, Danmark, and designed by talented new designers.

Your designs (like Danish furniture design in general) are characterised by their clarity, closeness to nature and straightforwardness. Can you agree with that or do you think there are also influences from other cultures or techniques that can be found – perhaps only at second glance? 

All the designers that we work with, have their own inspiration sources, and we work closely with them, and always focus on creating a piece of furniture, that looks and feel like a Brdr. Krüger product. But our Danish design ancestors were inspired by other cultures etc. and so I think most designers bring that along to their design. I can especially see Oeo Studios close relations with Japan in their design.

And in 3 words: what do you think are the special characteristics of your company’s furniture designs? 

Timeless design. Craftsmanship. Modern twist.

What are the advantages and challenges of working in a family business? 

Uhh, where to begin (smile). As my brother and I never planned to join the company, none of us worked out a masterplan of how we could provide the company with the best skills. But somehow, we managed to have 4 different mindsets and talents. Niels, our father, is the trained woodturner. Jyliane, our mother, is all about sales and finance. My brother Jonas has a background in graphic design and marketing. And I started by organic production and workflow. Somehow, we really complement each other, and I think most important, we don’t overlap each other’s area.

We hired back in 2016 a CEO, Lasse Holm Clausen, who is not family, and this was a great decision in many ways.

My brother and I really try our best to protect the company and the many years, our parents worked to create the company, that we have the privilege of owning today. I also think that our respect and love to our family, really keeps us from bringing any bad vibes between us. Of course, there are challenges working with family, but none that we can’t handle, and I feel privileged to have the people that I love as my colleagues.

So the decision to continue the family business for you wasn’t made from an early age? 

Not at all, we “waited” until our early 30s. Our parents never pushed us to join the company, maybe because they knew how hard work it was. In my childhood, our parents worked so much, and they had so many tough decisions to make.

Jonas and I went on our own paths, but always talking about what a shame it was, if the story ended with us. But we managed to see how we could bring our own story to the company, with all the support from our parents.

What does the family mean to you? 

We are kind of an Italian family (smile). My family means the world to me, we have very strong ties, even though some are living in USA and Turkey, we manage to stay close. We were always close, spending many hours in my grandparent’s summer house, in almost every holiday, always surrounded with close family.

For Brdr. Krüger, the commitment to heritage is in line with the recognition of modernity. What measures do you think you use to achieve this? 

It is our main strategy of design, to create contemporary furniture with a modern twist. It might be very nerdy, but it’s all in the details. And it has high priority in the design process.

Wood: The basis of your designs and one of the most valuable raw materials worldwide. And the demand – especially in the furniture market – is constantly increasing. What role does sustainability play in your furniture and what do you look for in design and production in that case? 

Sustainability has become a consumer demand, but it has always been in our minds and in the way we create our business and design our furniture.

First and most importantly we produce in Denmark. We produce by the concept “made to order”, what means that we only produce what we already sold.

Wood is one of the most sustainable materials and we only buy FSC and PEFC wood. We strive to use wood from Europe, and always have a close dialogue with our wood supplier about sustainability.

When we add a new furniture to our collection, we want to create a piece that lasts and will pass through generations, and not focusing on trends and short-term solutions. In the design phase, we try to take the necessary steps, so upholstery etc. can be replaced by the consumer when damaged.

And which materials could still be interesting and relevant for you in the future? 

Our furniture is made of wood, we can supply with other materials, but wood has been and will be our main material in our furniture. We have not yet found a more interesting and sustainable material than wood, and as wood has such a history for our company, I don’t think that we will replace it.

Our great wish is to re-use our left-over wood, but it’s a very difficult process, and we have not yet found the perfect solution.

You have already collaborated with design icons such as Hans Bølling, Nanna Ditzel, David Thulstrup, OEO Studio, Rasmus Fex, Sverre Uhnger and O&M Design on exciting projects, including for Noma, Hermès and Kay Bojesen Denmark. What are the views, approaches or design criteria of the designers and architects you work with and why are they important to Brdr. Krüger? 

It’s always a tricky question, and we are very picky about choosing our new design, usually we say no to many offers, as they either don’t fit into our profile or our pipeline. It’s a mix between gut feeling and knowing the marked and our customers.

One criteria is that we want our furniture to look like a Brdr. Krüger piece, and this is very much a feeling and not something that we can put into a system. The design must have a level of craftsmanship and finesse that fits our profile, and then supply the rest of our collection. I think that we managed to choose our collections wisely, so it’s easy to mix all furniture together.

Then, we have a huge passion for chairs, so this is a product that we prioritise highly in choosing new designs. Chairs are so iconic, and we think it’s one of the most difficult furniture to create. It needs comfort, stability and the design needs to be great and elegant.

A Brdr. Krüger “look” is highly prioritised. Comfort, functionality and replaceable upholstery – so the furniture can live a long life. Simple and elegant details, with a modern twist and tactility.

Hand on heart: Is there a furniture icon that doesn’t come from your company but that you have admired since its lifetime? If so, which one? 

Oh, so many fantastic designs and I’m mostly familiar with Danish and European designs. I don’t really have a special item, that I dream about, but I have always had a passion for lighting and glass, so its probably not a furniture made of wood. Lighting has such an impact on a room’s atmosphere, and I really think that there are so many elegant and beautiful lamps. So, it is also a joy for our company to collaborate with lighting partners. Right now, our lighting partner in our showroom is Lyfa.

Well then, which piece of furniture could you personally not do without in your home and why? 

Lighting (twinkle) and dining chairs. To enjoy a dinner in a comfortable and aesthetic chair, is for me an important choice for a home. We love to make chairs and I think therefore I enjoy a beautiful good dining chair in our home, joined with a comfortable lighting, you can only enjoy your dinner even more.

And last but not least: What does the future of your business look like? Are there concrete plans for e. g. Limited Furniture Editions, Heritage Design Collections or Special Designer Collaborations? 

We want to expand our collection with more items, and we already have several in the pipeline. I really love the upcoming collection, because it’s designed by a very beloved friend of ours, I can say no more (smile).

Collaborating on a limited piece, will also be in our future collection, this is where we are able to really play and not in the same way consider sales statistics and numbers.

We will also enjoy collaborating with a project, like we did with Noma in Copenhagen and Inua in Japan. It’s a very interesting process, and I think we’ll archive a great result.

www.brdr-kruger.com

Denmark, September 2021. | Interview by The Sturgheons with Julie Krüger from Brdr. Krüger. | All photos provided by Brdr. Krüger.