MENCKE & VAGNBY
GOOD DESIGN COMMUNICATES FUNCTION
Karina Mencke and Marcus Vagnby met on the industrial design programme at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. They now run the mencke&vagnby design studio together, and have designed a number of Zone Denmark products – including a range of exclusive wine accessories.
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.”
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.
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.
The bird
“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.
“It also means that you don’t have to spend so much energy decoding the design because you don’t understand
what it is,” Karina adds. “Good design communicates its function.”