JOHANNES TORPE
In almost 20 years Danish designer Johannes Torpe has delivered immersive branding experiences and thought-provoking solutions in concept design, interior design and industrial design to clients from all regions of the world. With the support from free-thinking parents, he has pursued his ventures without any conventional training and has gone from sought after lighting designer, to selling millions of singles as a professional drummer and music producer and designing furniture for companies like Moroso and Hay and not to forget leading Danish luxury brand Bang & Olufsen into the future as their Group Creative Director. Today his Copenhagen-based studio specializes in creating holistic branding and concepts for the retail, food and hospitality industries. Whilst running the studio Johannes has also embarked on a fellowship at Westminster University where he is focusing on creative leadership.
If there was one piece of art you could feature in, which would it be and why?
In the future, I can only aspire to become one of the artifacts for a future version of this years amazing exhibition Neo Prehistory at Trienale Di Milano.
Who inspires you and why? An artist, a family member, someone current or historical?
My father was a musician and my mother is a painter, and I always like to say that I grew up with a paintbrush in one hand and a drumstick in the other. There is no doubt in my mind that these two amazing people helped me find and understand the creative energy inside myself. On a more day-to-day level I get inspired by so many different types of people, from random encounters to old friends. And then of course from my team. I feel very privileged to work with a very select group of individuals who I just had to hire!
What are your cultural aspirations? What do you still want to see, do and achieve?
I believe that culture is people. To understand the culture of a place or destination, I need to understand the people. I spend my time with the people, exploring their cuisine, their religion and beliefs and their art and creative expressions. Moving forward I will keep on doing just that.
What are your favourite cultural cities in the world and why?
To me Beijing, Rome, Paris, Milan, London, New York, Kyoto, Taipei and Copenhagen have all the elements of culture that I value most. They have a drawing effect on me and I always come back for the same reasons. It is difficult to pinpoint what exactly it is and I think that is part of the answer; it lies with the people of these cities.
What are you up to at the moment and where can we find it?
We have a series of amazing products and concepts coming out this fall; a collection of brand art installations for one of the world’s biggest international sports brands and several restaurant designs in the making. One in beautiful Iceland will open in the beginning of the fall. Check out our website where all the information we are able to share about past and current projects can be found. We are also stepping up our game on Instagram for the particularly interested. Currently we have projects under development in Iceland, Taiwan, France, Norway, China, USA, UK and Denmark.