FRAMA: rooms from a pharmacy

How a Copenhagen house working out of a 19th-century apothecary came to design whole atmospheres — furniture, light, ceramic and scent.

FRAMA

Walk into St. Pauls Apotek in Copenhagen and the first thing you notice is that nothing shouts. The preserved cabinetry of a 19th-century pharmacy holds steel, oak and brass objects that look as if they have always been there. This is FRAMA's flagship, and its whole argument in one room.

Atmosphere as the product

Most brands design objects; FRAMA composes atmospheres. The catalogue runs from the aluminium Rivet series and marble Sintra tables to thrown ceramics and an apothecary line of hand wash and scent — different categories, one quiet, material-first language.

Rivet Chair — FRAMA (source: framacph.com) — The Rivet Chair and the Sintra Table in marble — Courtesy FRAMA

Sintra Table — Marble — FRAMA — The Rivet Chair and the Sintra Table in marble — Courtesy FRAMA

Furniture, light, ceramic and scent — one language, one room.

Permanence over novelty

The materials are chosen to age: solid oak that darkens, brass that patinates, steel that dulls to satin. A FRAMA piece is not meant to look new; it is meant to look inevitable, and better in ten years than on delivery day.

Farmhouse Trestle Table Ø140 — FRAMA — The Farmhouse Trestle Table in dark oak — Courtesy FRAMA

Why it travels

That totality is why FRAMA furnishes atmospheric hotels and restaurants across Europe — and why it suits Australian rooms that want coherence rather than a collection of trophies. Through Objena, the house arrives here whole: the chair, the lamp, the bowl and the scent on the basin.