Restraint and Reverence

Michael Anastassiades is standing in his studio converted from an auto garage in Camden – now a light-filled, creative hub next door to what once was artist Paula Rego’s workshop – where his team quietly creates. The designer is joined by Els Van Hoorebeeck, the new creative director of Danish design brand Fritz Hansen. The first finished pieces of a creative collaboration long in the works are front and centre, ready to be admired and touched.

“What is design? Design is an excuse to have a conversation,” says Anastassiades. “You create something to establish a dialogue, to start talking, to start sharing ideas. So, you need a starting point.” In this first collaboration, he has created a series that speaks to the values of both his own studio and Fritz Hansen. Titled After, the collection so far, first introduced during 3DaysofDesign in Copenhagen and officially brought to market in London this September, comprises a dining chair and table – both defined by a quiet precision and reverence for material, form, and craft.

Reflecting Anastassiades’ enduring fascination with proportion, the After series nods to figures like Kaare Klint and Poul Kjærholm – distilling a Danish design ethos through the designer’s own rigorous, pared-back language and way of working. “I always wanted to be involved in every single part of the project, on the creative side,” says Anastassiades. “We work in a very hands-on way – we make things. We make mock ups, prop things up… we take things out, we chop things up. That was very much part of that process here,” he says.

The chair’s construction is deceptively simple: a curved plywood backrest meets four square-section wooden legs in a form that is both rational and sculptural. The level of craftsmanship, particularly in the joinery and timber work, reveals Fritz Hansen’s trademark commitment to quality, creating a dialogue between the brand and Anastassiades’ ideas. “It’s important for me to study the DNA of every company that I work for and to try and understand what my contribution could be to the history of the company, designing something that actually has longevity, that will stay for a long time and become part of that history,” he says.

The generous circular top of the dining table rests on stout, rounded legs, creating visual weight without feeling monolithic. In both pieces, the form follows a kind of baked in logic that feels very Anastassiades, as does the materiality. The pieces are rendered in pale ash with a subtle waxed finish, allowing the natural grain to sing. A second palette introduces a rich burgundy stain, paired with a Rosso Levanto marble tabletop – a more expressive, yet still restrained, interpretation. Optional leather seat pads in complementary tones offer comfort without intruding on the silhouette of the chair.

For Anastassiades, After is less about innovation than evolution. “I’m not there to shock with something completely new. I’m there to introduce a layer over the references that have inspired me. Each decision is deliberate,” he notes – and indeed, nothing feels superfluous. Every line, surface, and junction reaffirming the designer’s philosophy of clarity as a kind of luxury.