Born in Denmark in 1960, John Brauer graduated in Architecture from KEA School of Design and Technology in Copenhagen and holds an MBA in Innovation from the Danish Technological University. During his career he has worked with communication, product design and graphic design for companies in Germany and Scandinavia.
Brauer founded Essey in 2003 with the belief that function should be representative of natural form. This is at the heart of the company’s design philosophy; Symbolic Functionalism. They suggest that in the natural world, shapes are defined by function, but in the designed world shapes of objects only have a slight resemblance to their function. Essey want to correct this imbalance by creating products that are in harmony with their function. Essey’s product range includes creative, homeware, and interior design pieces that have an inner identity expressing what they are.
This philosophy of Symbolic Functionalism is present in the objects on display here. The waste paper basket resembles scrunched up paper, the table is reminiscent of a long tablecloth, and the toothpick holder imagines the picks as the spines of a cactus.
