By combining the playfulness of childhood with her daughter’s “doodling adventures,” Frida C. Midttun Finnerud creates furniture that blurs the line between art and function.

Photo Anne Bråtveit Words Marianne Lie Berg

- I find the world a bit boring, and I ask myself how far I can push the boundaries of aesthetics in relation to function,” says interior architect and furniture designer Frida C. Midttun Finnerud.

We meet Frida in a functionalist-style house on Vallegata in St. Hanshaugen, where she lives with her pianist husband and their daughter. Daylight streams in through the windows and illuminates a vibrant interior, where a grand piano is complemented by custom-built furniture and several delicate works of art that Frida has created herself.

- It started because my daughter needed a desk. We have no plans to move, so I thought: why not make something that can grow with her?”

A desk top, shaped like an organic wave, is mounted in a set of grooves in the wall of the small children’s room. The wave shape creates a perfect little seating nook without taking up too much space in the room. The top has already been moved up a few notches as their daughter has grown. In a niche in the hallway, a wall-sized metal plate with a perforated pattern shaped like a giant squiggle has been hung.

- We needed a drying rack. It’s always a problem to find a drying rack that looks nice when it’s not in use, so I just sat down and started drawing one myself, she says matter-of-factly, as if it were the most natural thing to do.

She pulls out a handful of specially designed hooks and begins hanging a jacket, a small backpack, and a pair of rain pants at different heights. The rack works just as well as a coat rack as it does as a drying rack, and is accessible to everyone, tall or short.

- I wasn’t consciously trying to create doodles; I just sat and drew until I’d landed on an expression I felt was right. But it should be said that I’m interested in biophilic design and like organic forms. Not everything has to be so boxy, she says with a smile.

When Frida was young, she wanted to become an artist. Her parents didn’t think it offered prospects for a stable income, so Frida had to settle for studying interior architecture. Her work as an interior architect has been featured in several publications, and she currently works part-time at Monn Interiørarkitekter while building up her furniture design firm, STUDIO FriDesign. Creating products to sell is new to Frida, but she has always made things.

I also loved to dance when I was little, and I still dance actively today. I think I’m trying to get closer to art, dance, and the sense of freedom in the products I create. It’s part of my philosophy that we must never stop playing or doing the things we loved as children.

Frida explains that she got the name Doodlewalk from her daughter, who one day explained that she was sitting and drawing a “doodle walk.”

The wall-mounted version of Doodlewalk is made of powder-coated aluminum and measures 1 x 2.25 meters. Frida is now launching a smaller version in veneer, measuring 97 x 55.5 cm, called Doodletalk, designed for smaller rooms and settings. Doodletalk can be assembled into larger compositions, almost endlessly, like a butterfly spreading its wings.

– It took me a while to scale down Doodlewalk. With large objects, you become part of them, while with small objects, you remain on the outside.

Another innovation is a product Frida calls Doodlevoid. Here, she has looked at areas in the home that are usually unused.

- It’s about observing how we move. How much space do we actually use when, for example, we stand in front of the bathroom sink? she explains, gesturing toward the small gap between herself and the wall.

- By creating this organic wooden bench, I’ve utilized a dead space in the room and created a place where I can put down clothes and towels.

Frida pulls out her sketchbook and begins sketching new settings where Doodlevoid could fit in—perhaps in a gallery, or out in public spaces. The wave-shaped stool can be extended almost endlessly, like a snake winding its way along a section of wall. If you combine it with a Doodlewalk or a Doodletalk, you instantly have a functional work of art on the wall as well.

Wandering Whims

Stockholm Design Week