2005
In The Beginning
After meeting at Aalborg University in 2005, Jasper Overgaard and Christian Dyrman began working on several student design projects together, including innovative concepts for furniture. Five years later they both graduated from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design & Conservation. “Those years working together during our studies definitely set the foundation for Overgaard & Dyrman,” explains Christian Dyrman.
2005
Shared Passion, Complimentary Skills
Although both founders of O&D are formally educated in architecture and design, Christian is also a skilled blacksmith while Jasper is a self-taught leathersmith. It is these two specialty skills that helped Overgaard & Dyrman to develop and refine their debut furniture collection.
2013
Going All In
“Two big design brands showed interest in producing our Wire Chair design but after the early prototypes came back from Asia,” says Jasper Overgaard, “Chris and I realized that we could do it better ourselves. We both had good full-time jobs and had no ambitions to start our own brand, but the more we came to believe in the concept and in each other, the more we knew we had to, ‘go all in.’ So, we quit our jobs and promised each other we’d give it everything we had for one year.”
2013
Innovation Made By Hand
Over the next eighteen months, the founders bought, borrowed, and built all the tools they needed to make the first Wire Chairs the right way. “The first 300 pieces were made entirely by us,” says Christian Dyrman, “I did all the metal work in my sister’s former hen house and Jasper did all the leather work in his childhood bedroom back at his parent’s place.”
2014
The Wire Chair
It started with a dining chair but during the process ‘Wire’ evolved from being just a chair to a collection of furniture. Today the Wire Collection includes five complimentary design pieces: The Wire Lounge Chair, the Wire Lounge Sofa, the Wire Coffee Table, the Wire Bar Stool, and the low Wire Stool.
2014
The Wire Collection
Officially launched at Imm Cologne 2014 and inspired by the dramatic aesthetic contrast between two very different materials—structural steel and premium quality, aniline-dyed leather—Overgaard & Dyrman’s award-winning Wire Collection combines two traditional forms of highly detailed, skilled craft—saddle making and precision metalwork.
Today
Made In Denmark, Made To Order
Today, all of O&D’s products are produced by skilled craftsmen and women in Denmark, and each made-to-order piece is individually stamped and numbered by hand, reinforcing the brand’s attention to detail and pride in their work. “We have always felt that the best way to learn was by doing. So, we set out to learn each step of the process for ourselves. This way, we could truly understand and improve the process and, therefore, all of the products we create.”
The Future
Good Things To Come
With more than eight years of industry experience under their belts, an expanding team of skilled makers, and a growing international reputation for design originality and uncompromising quality, Overgaard & Dyrman launched their second collection of furniture in 2019 – the Circle Dining Chair will be followed by additional pieces in 2022.