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Paul Coenen, a designer based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, experiments with common materials to shape sleek furniture defined by harmonious bends and disjoints. After graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2019, Coenen built his own design practice. By nature, his furniture pieces are minimalist and bear the mark of contemporary designs. They, however, defy accreditation under specific styles and are often the consequence of the process employed, materials used and finishes slathered on their surfaces. He employs an experimental and hands-on approach to shape industrial materials via techniques both modern and traditional. Seeking to discover the inherent—and unambiguous—attributes of his chosen materials, Coenen employs processes that allow the material to guide and shape his creative process as well as the final look of his product designs.
His furniture designs, predominantly construed in sheet metal, bear congruous thickness, shimmer and contortions. Coenen facilitates this congruity by using paper scale models as a design tool to translate folds, connections and techniques into objects of steel. The designer, instead of preliminarily sketching out his ideas, prefers to develop his concepts through direct engagement with both scale models and the actual material. Often created using a single sheet or component of the chosen material, the Dutch designer's body of work typically includes products demonstrating the raw qualities of the materials used to build them. However, the furniture designer also experiments with novel colours and finishes to render humour in his pieces. These textured finishes enhance the appearance of the furniture, giving it a weighty look and appending its vibrancy.
Some of Coenen's recent works include the Camber collection (2021-2024), the Canopy lamps, the Rubber lounge chairs, the Section collection and the Arc table light (2023). The Camber collection comprises five pieces of furniture, each crafted over the years since 2021. These include the Camber Bar Stool (2023), Camber Bench (2021), Camber Chair (2022), Camber Coffee Table (2024) and Camber Stool (2021). The series originated from the idea of manufacturing a piece of furniture from a single piece of sheet metal. This results in a cohesive design with little to no joints. For all the pieces, the inclining angle of the seat forms the basis for the rest of the design. This angle, congruous at five degrees, is repeated across the surfaces of all the designs. Recalling their making, Coenen shares, "Starting with a flat rectangle, two angular cuts are made. The first three folds are then made lengthwise by machine, after which the legs are finally bent into the right angle by hand."
While the original Camber collection is made of stainless steel, Coenen further experimented with the Camber Stool to release a blue iteration of the stool design. This version was made in collaboration with BWB Surface Technology. Demonstrating hand-anodisation and the transformative potential of aluminium, the product designer rendered its surface with colour through a specialised shrink-wrap dye technique. The Camber Stool was anodised with a single-layer purple-blue finish, allowing much of the original aluminium colour to show through the anodised layer, adding a new perspective to the anodising technique.
Further, Coenen also employed this technique on the Section Column Light (2024) and Section Coffee Table (2024), both of which were originally part of the Section collection. Each component of the light and table design was individually anodised and then assembled. Both pieces underwent two colour anodisation stages. While the lamp bears a bold yellow base and a bright violet finish, the coffee table is slathered with a bold yellow base and a deep purple-blue finish, leaving glimpses of raw aluminium exposed underneath.
The design for the original Section collection (2023), on the other hand, is an exploration of form, repetition and proportion. Composed of rhythmic striations and intersecting surfaces, the waxed aluminium pieces bear monolithic miens. Their final forms subtly hint at the intended function. The collection comprises a candle holder, a centrepiece, a coffee table, a side table and a lamp.
Some other experimental designs by Coenen include the wall light and floor lamp from the Canopy series (2023), which was undertaken by the designer in collaboration with Lena Winterink. The lamp designs mimic the elements of a tent. Just as the fabric relies on the pole for support, the pole, which also hosts the lighting element clamped onto it, leans on the fabric for stability. Another lighting design collection by Coenen includes the Arc table light, the Arc wall light and Arc sconces. Each design is made from a single piece of stainless steel and bent thrice at different radii.
The Tension collection, comprising a shelf, a low cabinet, a bench, a side table and bowls, exhibits the flexibility of sheet metal. The pieces in this collection comprise multiple sheets of stainless steel locked together due to the tension in the curved sheet. Assembled without the usage of screws, welds and fasteners, the collection demonstrates the material's inherent potential to bend and hold a cohesive position.
Coenen's series of stainless steel objects created for the home embodies a refined simplicity. The designer made these pieces—candle holder, bowl, bookend—for Róhe Frames (an Amsterdam-based brand, design studio and atelier), using eight-millimetre thick stainless steel. Defined by soft curves and bents, these pieces, once again, demonstrate the flexibility of sheet metal and its potential as a versatile material.
These designs, dominated most stoutly by steel metal, exhibit the designer's efforts in demonstrating the material's limits. These bend, curve, fold and hold steady at angles that one may not typically perceive as plausible for metallic objects, hence inviting an element of curiosity pertaining to the placement and usage of all the furniture, lighting and homeware objects built by Coenen.
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