Rely Outdoor Side Chair: HW138

“My father was a cabinetmaker so, ever since I was a kid, I played around in his workshop creating different objects,” says youthful Copenhagen-based designer Hee Welling. “Besides that, I spent hours drawing, almost every day, so it has always been obvious for me that I wanted to do something creative.” That urge came to be tempered with an appreciation for the Scandinavian design tradition with its legacy of “the beauty of the simple objects, with a clean expression, functional use and logic details.“

After graduating from the Danish Royal Academy of Fine Arts, he quickly established his namesake studio. An early collaboration with Denmark maker Hay resulted in his breakthrough Hee seating, an eco-friendly grouping made from easily recyclable materials in a modern but not overwhelmingly trendy design. Following up with his notable About A Chair series, also for Hay, he has also expanded to an international roster of clients while also teaching at the Danish Design School. His work has been exhibited at fairs in Cologne, London, New York, Milan, Singapore, Stockholm and Tokyo. Through it all, his vision remains highly focused: “Every day, I try to create simple and useful design.”