Mads Odgård
Love of geometric shapes, logic and minimalism.
Mads Odgård has always had a love for straight lines, right angles, and geometric shapes. This love shines through in his professional design work, the interior design of his own home and when landscaping his garden. If he doesn’t know where to begin when creating a new design, he simply starts by drawing a straight line. This minimalist mindset is evident in Mads Odgård’s design portfolio, which includes the lamps of the MO Series – his first collaboration with Carl Hansen & Søn.
The dream of becoming a designer has lived in Mads Odgård for as long as he can remember, so when the time came, he left his birthplace, the Danish town of Kjellerup, and moved to Copenhagen to work in the creative business. Here, he attended the School of Decorative Art, now the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation. The School of Decorative Art was a development of the School of Arts and Crafts – the alma mater of Hans J. Wegner, Børge Mogensen, and several other Danish design legends. Mads Odgård saw their drawings in the cupboards in the basement or hung up on the walls with drawing pins, and he could find their prototypes in the attic. For him, there was no doubt that this was the right place to learn to measure, draw, and – not least – remove any unnecessary details.
Mads Odgård had attended two out of the three years at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School when he was offered a job as a designer and model builder at LEGO. Working with the perpendicular bricks was a perfect fit for his love of geometric shapes, logic and minimalism. He then explored car design at ArtCenter Europe in Switzerland, and in 1988 he founded his own drawing office.
To this day, Mads Odgård brings his rational, minimalist approach to his design when he creates lamps, furniture, cutlery, and other industrial design. During the design process, he always aims for efficiency in the look and the materials, as he wants to avoid any unnecessary details. His design approach has resulted in several awards, including the Red Dot Award, America’s I.D. Award, and Design Plus, Germany.
Our designers
When you choose a product from Carl Hansen & Søn, you get more than just a piece of furniture. You will become part of a long and proud tradition of beautiful and distinctive craftsmanship where nothing is left to chance. We are the world’s largest manufacturer of furniture designed by Hans J. Wegner, and we also produce furniture created by renowned furniture designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Børge Mogensen, Ole Wanscher, Kaare Klint, Poul Kjærholm, Bodil Kjær and Tadao Ando. Carl Hansen & Søn represents more than 100 years of Danish design history, and our furniture is sold worldwide.
* Five-year warranty on indoor furniture. Two-year warranty on outdoor furniture