Mentze Ottenstein

Background

Mentze Ottenstein is a collaboration between Danish architects and designers Mathias Mentze and Alexander Vedel Ottenstein, who run the Copenhagen practice Mentze Ottenstein ApS, working across architecture, exhibitions, interiors and objects. Mentze is an architect who lectures on design at the Royal Danish Academy; Ottenstein has collaborated with high-profile Danish studios and is most passionate about smaller scale projects.

Signature Style

Their approach is contextual: designs emerge from a specific project or occasion, for a specific place, and often carry historical references and unfamiliar narratives that surface through extensive research. They say they like to anchor a project in existing narratives instead of starting anew, and they describe a love affair with craft and craftspeople.

Notable Works

• Curiosity Cabinet for Audo Copenhagen
• Renovation, design and art curation for Marienborg, the official residence of the Danish Prime Minister
• A redesign of the Royal Copenhagen flagship store in Copenhagen
• Karen Blixen's Personal Library at Rungstedlund
• Set design for The Power of Print at Designmuseum Danmark, and the Tradition is Contemporary exhibition in New Delhi

Legacy

The studio draws on the legacy of Kaare Klint, whose way of teaching asked young architects to research historic furniture and let it inform new designs. They have worked directly with Klint's legacy at Marienborg and at The Design Museum in Copenhagen.