Pettersen & Hein is a collaboration between Lea Hein and Magnus Pettersen. Hein is a furniture designer educated at HDK Valand, University of Gothenburg in Sweden, and Pettersen is an artist educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
What happens when design is no longer comprised by function, but longs for the aesthetic and ethical freedom of art? American artist Richard Artschwager once said, “If you sit on it, it’s a chair. If you walk around it and look at it, it’s a sculpture”. Some objects invite for different ways of living and using a space by paying homage to materials, color and form rather than functional use, thereby taking on a clear unique, bold position, the end-result often being intriguing and extraordinary. When boundaries between design and art are effaced potential for magic occurs.
Their different backgrounds and the goal of collaboration allow the duo to explore a new practice and experiment with beautiful and poetic results. The works are designs, but without the typical constraints of form and function. The aesthetic exploration free from rules and function, celebrating material, form, and color, enables them to create new sculptural forms. With their powerful works, they question the entire idea of product and art.
