Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng (b.1993) graduated with a Master in Product design from Oslo Metropolitan University, where she explored abstract, yet functional and aesthetic expressions in local materials, such as spalted birch and Norwegian blue clay.
Her objects are developed intuitively and experimentally, in an aesthetic interaction between the hand and the machine. Her objects are often seen as rarities or uniquely, where quirky aesthetics are her field of interest. Inspired by the nature and its naturals materials, shapes, and forms meet together in new interpretations. Inspired by morphing shapes in nature, and with a desire to set form to imagination, the emerging Norwegian designer Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng, creates abstract objects that expresses quirky aesthetics with an organic design language. With an intuitive approach to the material she works with, Øfstedal Eng, develops objects that lie between the borders of applied art and sculpture.
The mysteries, shapes, and materials of the Norwegian lush nature fascinates, and in the creation of her objects, she lets morphing formations control and beautify the end result in her design. By pushing boundaries with her abstract design language, she hopes to challenge both consumers and producers by being a counterweight to perfection and identical products made by the masses. She aims to give consumers objects that are different, the unusual, the strange, and the quirky – or the real and vulnerable – as a counterpoint to all the perfect and identical products in the world. For her, design is a personal way of expression, where she hopes the object itself can be the sculpture which creates engagement with its material, shape, and story. Objects that challenge the industrial design expression of the masses, and show the emotional value by embracing abstract design language as an important part of the interior of the home.
