Johannes Torpe
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Johannes Torpe | |
|---|---|
 Torpe in 2012 | |
| Born | 5 January 1973 Skanderborg, Denmark |
| Occupation(s) | Designer and musician |
| Website | johannestorpe |
Johannes Torpe (born 5 January 1973 in Skanderborg) is a Danish designer and musician.[1] Since 1997, he has been the CEO and creative director of his eponymous design company, Johannes Torpe Studios, based in Copenhagen, Denmark.[2][3] The studio's design philosophy takes an multi-disciplinary approach, and is concerned with creating, adaptive, open-minded, and mood-driven spaces.[4]
As a designer, Torpe works in interior design, product design, furniture design, industrial design, and architecture.[5][4] Torpe has received awards for several of his interior design projects such as NASA Night Club, Restaurant Levi in Copenhagen, and the United Cycling Lab & Store for ARGON 18 in Lynge. Projects outside Denmark include Restaurant South Beauty in Taipei, Restaurant Jing Yaa Tang in Beijing, and the Bucherer Store concept in Düsseldorf.[6][7][8]
From 2011 to 2015 he was the creative director of Bang & Olufsen.[9] He has also worked with several international companies, such as Nike, HAY, Haier, LG Electronics, Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana and Skype.[10] Torpe has also worked as a keynote speaker, giving talks about his design philosophy and the intersection between business and design. He has spoken at events held by Design Indaba, MIPIM, the New York Times, Savannah College of Art and Design, Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne, and the Kennedy Space Center, among others.[11]
Johannes Torpe was born on 5 January 1973, in Skanderborg, Denmark to Danish artist Birgitte Elfrida Torpe and musician Patrick David Reilly. His mother, Birgitte, home-schooled Torpe until the fourth grade.
Growing up in the hippy commune Thylejren in Thy, he learned to harness his creativity at an early age and became an avid drummer. Torpe eventually grew tired of the commune's lifestyle and asked his mother for permission to move in with his aunt in Copenhagen at the age of 12. By 1986, he had gotten his first job in Copenhagen at DrumStick, a drumming store, to avoid going back to school. He worked there for five years, until the age of 19.[12][13]
Career
In 1989, Torpe founded the lighting design company Fatfish which provided lighting for music festivals and concerts. After seven years in the lighting business, he sold the company. During this period, Torpe started graphic design.[14][15] From 1994 to 1999, he was co-owner and designer of several Copenhagen nightclubs, including: NASA Nightclub, X-Ray, Le Kitch, Coffeeshoppen, Fever, and Pub Elvis. His work designing nightclubs in the 90s launched his design career. The NASA Nightclub was Torpe's first major interior design project, and came to define his style.[16][17] The all-white interior is a futuristic ode to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.[18]
Torpe created the studio Turbo2000 Kunstkontrolle (since renamed Johannes Torpe Studios) and sold off the nightclubs and bars to his partners in 2000. In 2005, he was appointed external industrial design director for Skype.[19] In 2009, he designed Danzka Vodka's rebrand, including a new logo and an aluminium bottle.[20]
In 2011, Torpe was appointed creative director of Bang & Olufsen.[21] During his time with the company, he introduced the sub-brand B&O Play. Torpe relinquished the role in October 2015. In 2011, he also designed the 500 kg seating system for Italian spHAUS[22] and opened the WangTorpe Studios in Beijing with Chinese entrepreneur Xiaofei Wang.[23] In 2012, he designed the Space Enabler series for the American company Haworth.[24]
In 2015, he was awarded a Fellowship at the Department of Architecture at Westminster University,[25] and RMIT University in Melbourne. In the following year, he explored the different drivers of change within a creative practice and the challenges and strengths of a relationship-based business model.[26] In 2017, Torpe expanded into architectural work, through his design for the Red Mountain Spa & Wellness Resort in Iceland. The project was awarded a commendation in the Retail & Leisure category at the 2018 MIPIM AR Future Projects Awards.[27] In 2018, his design for the United Cycling Lab and Store design in Lynge was also completed. For the project, he had retrofitted an industrial building from the 1990s to create futuristic retail experience for the display of high-performance bicycles from Argon 18.[28] In 2019, he designed the Precious Chair and the Heartbreaker Sofa for the Italian design company Moroso. When presenting the collection during the Salone del Mobile in Milan, Torpe said that he "designed the Precious collection of chairs in a moment of love and happiness; the inspiration really did come from imagining a ring on a finger".[29] The Heartbreaker Sofa is the opposite, as Torpe explains: "As an old saying goes, the greatest love songs are written by songwriters with broken hearts—that was also the case when I designed the Heartbreaker Sofa system. It may seem like a cliché, but it was in the scribbles during sleepless nights that this almost obvious shape took form, helping me to express my emotions through drawing."[30]
2020s
In 2020 Torpe designed the Buda Resort, 50 km North of Budapest, Hungary. As of 2023, the Buda Resort is still in development.[31]
Together with the French company Alstom Transportation SA, Johannes Torpe Studios designed the new IC5 train for DSB, in 2021.[32] The aim was to 'future-proof' the trains through timeless design, adopting simple forms and using high-quality materials. The train is scheduled to begin operations in the second half of 2024. Johannes Torpe Studios began developing one of it most extensive projects yet in 2022—the American Space Foundation Discovery Centre & HQ in Colorado Springs. The project involves the transformation of an old semiconductor factory into the public face of the Space Foundation. Intertwining many different programs, the project will create a seamless user experience, incorporating sensory immersive experiences while allowing all user groups to find their way around the building easily. As of 2023, the project is still in development.[33]
In 2022, Torpe also designed the new Restaurant Levi in Copenhagen. The design of the space is inspired by Japanese and Milanese architecture, to reflect the restaurant's fusion cuisine. It has been featured in several international magazines.[34]
Musical career
Torpe began receiving international attention as a musician in the 2000s. He had cofounded the music production company, Artificial Funk in 2000. Performing as the duo Enur, Torpe and his half-brother Rune Reilly Kölsch won a Danish Music Award for the song Calabria in 2004.[35] Three years later, they released a remix of the song featuring Danish reggae singer Natasja Saad. "Calabria 2007" enters the music charts in many countries and reaches number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Airplay chart 2008.[36] The song earned the duo several Danish DJ Awards as well as the prestigious BMI award.[37][38] Its success also led to an extensive live tour in the United States.[39] Though Torpe has since focused his career on his design studio, rather than working as a professional drummer, percussionist and music producer, he remains an official signature artist for Tama Drums.[40]