A unique solution breaks the ice

Mencke & Vagnby is an international design studio, developing elaborate products and solutions. We are experienced in fulfilling our customers' needs to growth, based on marked desirability. We work within a wide range of scales and areas, as product design, furniture, transportation and architecture. Believing that our process and approach is the key to success in all scale and context. Trough research and a user driven design approach we create solutions, by solving a given problem in a logical but yet surprisingly way. Giving our clients a head start on their market approach.

Creative Thinking

We think and rethink problems, in the search for honest and inventive design
Honest, in the sense of allowing the characteristics and functions in a product help determining the shape, striving for a simple and justified solution, and seeing every project with a fresh aspect, not following the beaten path.
Inventive, in the sense of seeing every challenge as inspiration, and not stopping when something seems unsolvable. In our designs, the inventive is evident in our many patented designs, and never ending search for new materials, and solutions.
This diversity in our work is challenging and nourishes new and original ideas.

Sustainability

We do our best to design our products and architecture based on the Cradle to Cradle principles; Whether it comes to the preparation and marking of the materials, durability, packaging, or to updating products, we always seek to embrace an environmentally friendly and green approach.
For example in the MIX series, recycling and green thinking is not only reflected in material selection and packaging, but also throughout the series own concept: Mix and use again.

To cultivate creativity,
I always begin a job with an open mind

My Childhood Inspiration

As a child I often sat under the coffee table, when my parents entertained guests. I decorated the underside of the table with colorful drawings. I created my own world. I had an urge for creating, drawing and being imaginative from a very young age. My parents gave my creative urge space to grow and I had freedom to pursue my desire to explore the unknown. It inspired me.

I have always been surrounded by a creative environment. I was born in 1981 as the third generation in a family of designers and graphic designers. My grandfather, Viggo Vagnby, who was wellknown for his art work and graphic tourist posters for Wonderful Copenhagen, created a strong and iconic universe inspired by his surroundings. My parents are successful graphic designers with creative minds. Hence, from childhood I have learned to - and let my self - inspire by my surroundings and my approach to the world has always been based on graphical communication and design.

My constant curiosity for exploring form and function has since my first product in 1999 and throughout my education at The Danish Design School and at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture taught me to combine form and function with the unexpected.

Innovation and renewal are key elements in my work. It's fun to start over each time.

I often participate in multidisciplinary working. This improves and sharpens my professional skills and profile, and I have had a close and fruitful cooperation with the Danish designer Karina Mencke for many years. I work in all scales and complexities, which is evidenced by my wide range of designs comprising of everything between graphic work, thermo pots and sofas to modern architecture. The diversity in my work is challenging and nourishes new and different creativity. Innovation and renewal are key elements in my work. It's fun to start over each time.

I want to avoid the natural extension of the expression. I am not content just by rethinking my products; they have to be developed. An example hereof is my steel and silicone baking brush designed for Nuance in 2001; an original and pioneering design of a familiar and classic kitchen product, but in which the brush was made hygienic, convenient, timely and easier to clean. By looking into to the challenges of existing baking brushes, I created my first design success and at the same time put and end to an era with hair in the dough as a natural consequence of home cooking. My Nuance kitchen brush won the Formland Award in 2001 and is available today in almost every third Danish home. It has since its debut been copied in countless colours and shapes all over the world. It pays to think about form and function a second time.
Modern design also has a story. So do my products. The world, I drew under the coffee table as a child, is now the world I live in every day.

A good solution has to function perfect for its specific requirements,
regardless of scale or purpose

My artist background

I grew up in Germany, famous for its efficiency, functionalism and quality, which influenced me a lot as a designer.
For a couple of years, I worked at several artist studios, making sculptures, focusing on the balance of shape, room and material. At Wolfgang Goeddertz' studio in Cologne, I was part of a team, creating beautiful metal sculptures, ranging in scale from 20 centimeters to 20 meters, learning that size does not make a difference, but aesthetics and balance do.
During this time I also worked with scenography for TV shows and theatres, which facilitated interactions between people, spaces and light.
When I one day got to design and build a custom made bathroom for a client, a new world of product design and furniture sparked my interest. Combining function with beauty and usability, made for individuals, made absolutely sense to me, and working with it felt both challenging and fun.
This experience led me to Denmark, for studying industrial design at the renowned Danish Designschool. The school provided a great opportunity to experiment a lot in different fields, and taught me how to come up with elaborate solutions, regardless of the type and size of a project. A good solution has to function perfect for its specific requirements, no matter if it's a trade fair stand, a coffee cup, a pair of glasses or a garden plan; I'm always aiming for the right solution for the individuals using it.

Ingenious Design

I like the fact that we, as customers, have created a new attitude, being very aware of our requirements and desires. We focus on individuality, and the spaces we live in, reflect it. This makes good design not only eligible, but needed! Above that I think ingenious design should make you smile, because of its elaborate function, pleasant impact or just because of its fine aesthetics. The more senses can be pleased at once, the better!