Designer Cecilie Manz

Cecilie Manz

Born in Odsherred, Denmark, in 1972, Cecilie Manz grew up in an artistic household and came into contact with the world of art and design at an early age. Her passion for fine art shapes her life and is now the hallmark of her formal language as a designer. Before opening her own studio in Copenhagen in 1998, Manz completed her studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and studied at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. Cecilie Manz has now been active as an independent designer for over twenty years and, in addition to a wide range of product designs - including furniture, lamps and glass projects - she also creates experimental prototypes and individual sculptural pieces.

Manz develops her designs in a classic way: she always works alone in her studio, approaches prototypes through drawings and then develops the design herself in the workshop of her studio. Cecilie Manz sees individual works and projects as fragments of a large, ongoing story. As part of a kind of total work of art, they are always connected and complement each other.

Cecilie Manz in her studio

Formally, Cecilie Manz’s designs are clearly in keeping with the Scandinavian design tradition in their simplicity and functionality. The Muuto Workshop Coffee Table, for example, combines a deliberately simple expression with the excellence of traditional craftsmanship and subtle detailed solutions. Cecilie Manz also cleverly incorporates her passion for fine art into her designs. This penchant is evident not only in the use of colours, structures, proportions and materials, but also in the titles of her works. With her Caravaggio lamp for Fritz Hansen, for example, she pays homage to the infamous Renaissance painter. She has once again created a monument to the Romanian-French sculptor Constantin Brâncuși with her Brancusi pendant lamp.

Cecilie Manz has worked with numerous renowned manufacturers such as Fritz Hansen, Iittala, Bang & Olufsen and Nils Holger Moormann and has received international awards. Her work can be seen in exhibitions at major institutions and is represented in important design collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Design Museum Danmark, Copenhagen.

Caravaggio suspension by Cecilie Manz for Fritz Hansen