Brand Spotlight
Frama is a design studio in Copenhagen. Its furniture is made in oak, birch, ash, steel and aluminum, and it is built so that you can see how it was put together. Founded by Niels Strøyer Christophersen, the studio works with a short list of materials and, in its own words, makes its pieces in lower volumes at small production facilities. Habitus began carrying Frama this September.
The studio works out of St. Pauls Apotek, a pharmacy that opened on Fredericiagade in 1878. The building now holds Frama's Studio Store and, since October 2020, a cafe called Apotek 57, so the furniture is designed a few steps from where it is sold.
Tap a dot to open the piece. A Farmhouse Trestle Table with Chair 01, Bench 01 and a Petit Rond Stool.
The Shelf Library
Frama traces rail-mounted shelving to Scandinavian cabinet makers of the early 1930s, and Kim Richardt's Shelf Library, designed for Frama in 2016, follows the same idea, rails on the wall and shelves that move. Vertical rails carry the shelves on stainless steel brackets. In the oak version the shelves and rails are solid oak, oiled; in the steel version everything is stainless steel.
A section arrives as a complete kit, with rails, shelves in two depths of 7.9" and 10.6", brackets and mounting screws, and it stands 11.6" off the wall. The single has shelves 15.7" or 31.5" wide; the double runs 64.8" along a wall and the triple 96.7". An add-on section adds one rail and one more column of shelves beside an existing section, so a single bought for a hallway can grow later. Heights run from 42.7" in steel and 45.2" in oak to a 72.9" version in either material, just over six feet.
A desk section brings one shelf forward to 15.7" deep, for a work spot or a record player. A hanger section adds a hanging bar for coats or, in a kitchen, for pans. A cabinet section closes one bay behind push-to-open veneered doors with one interior shelf, and a canvas cabinet does the same behind a heavy cotton canvas curtain. Each oak shelf is rated for 33 lbs and each steel shelf for 44 lbs, depending on the wall and the mounting, and the stainless steel sections can be used outdoors.
The Single Shelf is a different product and does not fit the Shelf Library rails. It is one solid oak board, oiled, on two brackets in black powder-coated steel, brass or stainless steel, or the same shelf and brackets entirely in stainless steel. Six sizes run from 15.7" to 31.5" wide, at 7.9" or 10.6" deep, and Frama suggests it for a bedside, a kitchen or an office.
Rivet, Aluminum Joined With a Hammer
Jonas Trampedach developed the Rivet technique in 2011 during a government-funded artist residency, and the Rivet Chair was its first piece. Instead of welding, he joined laser-cut sheets of aluminum at right angles with rivets hammered in by hand, with no heat involved, and Frama has built a family of pieces on it. Frama describes the result as traditional furniture craftsmanship combined with modern industrial production.
The aluminum is 0.16" thick and left untreated, so it dulls and marks with use, and it can live outdoors without rusting. Because the rivets are set by hand, no two pieces have exactly the same line of rivets. The Side Table divides its round top into three stepped levels and holds 33 lbs. The Box Table, 12.9" by 13.3" and 18.9" high, stands upright or on its side as a table, a nightstand or a pedestal.
The Rivet Cart is a tray over two open shelves on orange wheels, 25.6" high. The Rivet Chair is the same sheet aluminum, 31.7" high with an 18.1" seat. The Rivet Shelf, 34.5" or 46.9" wide, and the Typecase put the same riveted aluminum on a wall and hold 22 lbs each, depending on the wall.
The 01 Series, Church Seating in Birch
Frama's in-house studio drew Chair 01 in 2018 from the plain seating found in Nordic auditoriums and churches since the 1800s. It is a solid birch frame with a birch plywood seat, lacquered and made in Latvia. The chair is 17.7" wide and 31.9" high with an 18.1" seat, and it stacks five high so spares can stand in a corner. Chair 01 comes in natural, warm brown and dark brown.
The series grew outward from the chair, and the Armrest Chair 01 adds arms at the same 31.9" height, in warm brown only. The Bar Chair 01 and Stool 01 lift the seat to 25.6" or 29.9", for a counter or a bar. Bench 01 runs 45.1" long at 18.1" high, the height of the Low Stool 01, so both sit at a dining table. The Easy Chair 01, in warm brown or dark brown, drops the seat to 13.8" and widens it to 23.6", and camel cushions in a wool blend are made for the chairs.
Farmhouse, Oak with the Knots Left In
The Farmhouse series takes its trestle base from the tables in traditional farmhouses. Each table is a top set on two trestles, in solid oak with the knots left in, hardwax oiled in natural oak and lacquered in dark oak. The trestles carry the top on two support brackets, and the same trestles take other tops. The tables arrive flat packed, and Frama suggests the trestle tables as desks as well as dining tables.
The round table comes in 47.2" and 55.1" diameters. The plank top is 86.6" long, 31.5" wide and 28.7" high, long and narrow, and it is the one in the photograph at the top of this page. The Pond coffee table, its top an irregular rounded shape, and its rectangular counterpart bring the same oak down to 14.6", and a side table matches them.
Raw Steel, Limestone and a Stool with a Handle
Toke Lauridsen designed the Adam Stool in 2010 as a piece of industrial furniture. It has a raw steel frame, a natural leather seat and a slot cut through the seat to carry it by. It comes in three heights, 19.7" for a table, 25.6" for a counter and 29.9" for a bar. The steel is left raw and may show traces of rust, and the leather is untreated, so both darken and mark with use.
Two of the range's steel pieces date from 1989 and 1990. Per Holland Bastrup drew the Triangolo Chair in 1989, a triangular seat on three legs with a curved tubular back, all in stainless steel, and Table 57 in 1990. Table 57 sets a round top on a stainless steel base, 29.9" high, in white HDPE or yellow limestone, in 21.7" or 27.6" diameters. Each limestone top is different, and both pieces can go outdoors.
Aluminum Chairs, Ash Sofas and a Chair That Folds Flat
The rest of the range comes from other designers working in the same materials. Michael Antrobus's Union series sets linen or mesh seats in hand brushed and waxed aluminum frames, in sandstone linen for indoors and sandstone or taupe mesh for outdoors, and every piece can be disassembled. Its side table and coffee table use the same aluminum frame with a top in warm brown ash veneer or anodized aluminum.
Pedro Sottomayor's Tasca chair, stool and table, from 2022, are hand brushed aluminum left untreated, for indoors or out. Troels Grum-Schwensen's Petit Rond series is brushed stainless steel with a leather or fabric seat as an option, and the steel and fabric versions stack ten high.
In wood, Studio 0405's Symmetry lounge chair and couch set a foam mattress in a linen blend cover on an exposed solid ash frame, oiled, and the couch is a 70.9" two-seater. The Symmetry armrest chair and easy chair carry a webbing seat in an ash frame, stained and lacquered. Casegoods of Mumbai designed the Folding Flat Chair in solid birch to fold to 1.6" for hanging on a wall, and the Folding Flat Trestle Table folds the same way.
The Ratio console, chest, side table and trolley by the studio Ilo, from 2024, are birch veneer over MDF with solid birch, stained and lacquered, and the console and chest open on push-to-open drawers. The CM-1 circle mirror, in three sizes from 17.7" to 29.5", and the RM-1 rectangular mirror, in two, have solid oak frames held with exposed brass screws.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Frama based?
Copenhagen. Frama's Studio Store occupies St. Pauls Apotek at Fredericiagade 57, a pharmacy established in 1878, and the studio works from the same building. Apotek 57, the cafe in the same building, opened in October 2020. Habitus ships Frama across Canada from London, Ontario.
Who designs Frama furniture?
The 01 Series comes from Frama's in-house studio. Other pieces are by outside designers: Kim Richardt (Shelf Library), Jonas Trampedach (Rivet), Toke Lauridsen (Adam Stool), Per Holland Bastrup (Triangolo, Table 57), Michael Antrobus (Union), Pedro Sottomayor (Tasca), Troels Grum-Schwensen (Petit Rond), Studio 0405 (Symmetry), Ilo (Ratio) and Casegoods (Folding Flat).
Where is Frama furniture made?
It varies by piece. The oak Shelf Library and the 72.9" steel sections, the Single Shelf, the Adam Stool, the Triangolo Chair, the Farmhouse tables, the Ratio pieces, the Folding Flat Chair and the mirrors come from Lithuania, and the 01 Series from Latvia. The 42.7" steel Shelf Library sections and most Rivet pieces come from Bosnia, the Symmetry pieces from Croatia and Bosnia, Table 57 from Portugal, and the Union, Tasca and Petit Rond pieces from China.
What finishes does the Shelf Library come in?
Natural oak, with solid oak shelves and rails, oiled, on stainless steel brackets, or stainless steel throughout. The oak sections stand 45.2" or 72.9" high and the steel sections 42.7" or 72.9". Every shelf can be moved to a different height, and add-on sections add one rail and one bay at a time.
Much of Frama's furniture shows how it is put together, from the hand-set rivets to the brass screws on the mirrors. The Shelf Library and the 01 Series are where most people start.
If you are planning a Shelf Library configuration or sizing a Farmhouse table to a room, our design studio can plan both with you.
Start here
