VALCHROMAT + SPRUCE is a furniture series consisting of an armchair, a chair and a table, exploring contrast, hierarchy and honesty in construction. The series brings together two materially and conceptually different surfaces: spruce which is light, tactile, and visibly grained, and red pigmented valchromat, a dense, engineered fibreboard defined by compression, colour and strength.

Rather than concealing their differences, the materials are assigned distinct roles within each piece. The valchromat forms the most structurally demanding and load-bearing parts of the construction, utilising the material’s high density and strength achieved through its pigmented fibre composition. Spruce, with its softer expression and natural variation is allowed to rest, frame and articulate what is carried rather than what carries.

Through this deliberate division, the series makes construction legible. The contrast between the pale, organic spruce and the red saturated valchromat clarifies forces and dependencies within each object. What is supporting and what is supported becomes visually explicit, resulting in an honest and readable structure.

VALCHROMAT + SPRUCE investigates how material contrast can be used not only as decoration, but as a tool for clarity, allowing structure, function and expression to align.

Nils Askhagen will also exhibit his chest of drawers ’Copperbelly’ at The Building, Västra Trädgårdsgatan 9 during SCE.

Address:
Industricentralen, Hudiksvallsgatan 4, third floor