Good design communicates its function

Consciously or unconsciously, we pay a lot of attention to the equipment or utensils we use – always. After all, if something isn’t doing the job it’s supposed to do, we can design a new and better solution.

Karina Mencke and Marcus Vagnby both grew up in creative families as children of parents who ran their own businesses, they both graduated as industrial designers, they are both deeply passionate about food – and they are also a couple in their personal life.

Many of the design duo’s ideas therefore take shape in the kitchen, where they love cooking and also mixing cocktails.

“Consciously or unconsciously, we pay a lot of attention to the equipment or utensils we use – always,” says Karina Mencke. “After all, if something isn’t doing the job it’s supposed to do, we can design a new and better solution.”This has resulted in a number of mencke&vagnby’s most successful products, many of which have been created in cooperation with Zone Denmark. Among other things, they are behind the brand’s wine accessories such as the Bird wine stopper, which ensures that a good bottle of wine can be closed tightly and even stored lying down.

“A Zone product is often a combination of its function and the way you use the product. The bird-like design comes with an ingenious feature, for example: Place the stopper in the open bottle, tilt the bird’s beak to the opposite side, and the bottle is sealed. In this way, the interaction between body and function plays a role in the product design,” Marcus explains.