Interview: Amy Hunting of Hunting & Narud

-by Ali Gitlow

Amy Hunting describes her work with Oscar Narud as comprising “design in every kind of way, from objects to spaces”. To us at Zetteler, though, what this really means is that the duo crafts insanely beautiful, covetable items and interiors that we’d give our right arms to own and/or hang out in. 

We first became fans of Hunting & Narud – who are partners in both business and life – when they designed the 100% Norway exhibition space in 2012 and 2013. From a small studio in Stoke Newington they put their training as product designers to the test, operating across a broad spectrum including products, furniture, exhibition design, temporary installations and permanent interiors. 

Hunting and Narud’s work is centred around a keen eye for and interest in materials and production processes. Their output is always visually striking, whether they’re creating sculptural copper mirrors, tables made from wooden cones encased in glass, metal awards for the Design Museum’s Designs of the Year Awards, or even bespoke cashmere shawls. Teetering on the line between the art, design and craft worlds has served them well, as it’s led to numerous exhibitions and clients ranging from the British Council and Clerkenwell Design Week to the V&A Museum and Wallpaper* magazine. 

We recently spoke to Amy to gain insight into their working process, thoughts on Scandinavian design, and what it’s like balancing their practice with a baby daughter in the mix: 

It depends on the project, and it depends if there’s a brief – if it needs to do a specific thing or if it starts from a material. We really do start from both ends. The nicest thing is to have an open brief, so maybe we have a function first and then we can investigate what kind of materials have a certain property that we’re after. In that way, we can try and find new combinations and often find new materials to work with. We do try and continue to have ongoing research into materials. We like to discover and work with new ones and learn more about their abilities.

When you are working on a project what part of the process do you personally enjoy most? 

I enjoy the early stages, where everything feels like it’s possible, before you meet any problems or obstacles and it’s open and you can just brainstorm freely and explore lots of ideas. I think that’s the fun part. Oscar is really hands-on. I think he gets excited when things start to come together and we’re in the workshop testing out things and seeing what works. I think we have different ideas about it. I’m a bit more abstract and Oscar’s always like, ‘How is that going to work? And how is that going to stick together?’ And I’m like, ‘No no, we’ll solve that later down the line.’ We have this ongoing discussion of what’s possible and what’s not. He’s a bit more of a realist.

Our passion is to design objects that have a big spatial impact. So, if we make something that does something with the room or space it’s in, then I think we’re both happy about it. It comes to life when it’s in its surroundings. I think we try to have that in mind when we do design objects, that it’s not just a dead thing that doesn’t react to anything. Maybe that comes with our experience from doing both products and spaces. We try and link the two. It’s also important that they react to each other; I think that’s what gets us excited. We also are excited about doing permanent interior projects. It all depends on the client. When we have briefs that are really open and we have clients that are open-minded that’s exciting, because it means we get to explore and do something new. 

I think it’s really positive what’s happening in Scandinavian – especially Norwegian – design. Because Norwegian design has been kind of unknown for such a long time. But at the same time, I think it’s a bit of a shame when people try and label and categorise what Norwegian design is too much because it means that people try and find the similarities instead of celebrating the differences. It’s always described as something very minimalistic and quiet and honest and pretty. You don’t get to see the other parts of it as well, sometimes. It has pros and cons that it’s having this big moment. It’s losing a little bit of the more experimental work, maybe. Just the fact that people are trying to unify it so much.

We’ve been exposed to a whole new world of products. Just seeing the products that are designed for babies and kids, 99% of it is so ugly. When we’ve been doing research on what we need, we’re like, ‘Okay, we’re definitely not going to bring that into our house’. When they get older they’re interested in the colourful plastic stuff so you just have to go with it. But I don’t know if we’ll design anything for kids. It’s definitely interesting to see the whole market that’s out there, and how much money is in it. Maybe one day we’ll design something fun with it. 

Below 1: Hunting & Narud, 2: L4W Explore.