Ask og Eng | Beautiful + Sustainable Design

Having built several sustainable kitchens and furniture pieces for themselves over a number of years, Kine Ask Stenersen and Kristoffer Eng started their design studio Ask og Eng in early 2016. Based in Drammen, Norway, the talented couple have backgrounds that mesh perfectly when it comes to producing their beautiful range of products. Kine”s background, which is in environmental geography and climate change, means that when it comes to design and manufacturing, sustainability is of utmost importance to her. Kristoffer, a trained architect, is the practical aesthetic mind behind the company. Following their journey on Instagram, I have been captivated by the beauty of their functional designs, all of which are produced with bamboo. A high quality, durable material, they say it’s the sustainability qualities of bamboo that make it their material of choice.

So what is it that makes bamboo so sustainable? A type of grass that grows up to a meter per day, bamboo can be harvested after just four to six years – significantly faster than tress which take about 50. During growth bamboo absorbs more Co2 than is released during production, which makes it Co2 neutral over the complete lifecycle. What’s more, it grows this fast without using any pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilisers. For their furniture, Ask og Eng use Moso bamboo which only works with certified plantations. Because of this they can be sure that the bamboo is not only sustainable, but also produced responsibly.

With a brand new webshop launched this week, Ask og Eng have divided their offering into two collections. Collection A is a series of sustainable and high quality kitchen doors adapted to fit Ikea cabinets. Available to purchase online, there are a range of stunning finishes and designs including Soil, Wheat, Stone, Snow, Sand, Grain and Coal. The E collection is a custom made service allowing for the design and build of unique sustainable kitchen solutions for each individual customer. This collection consists of everything from smaller pieces of furniture to full size kitchens and counter tops. To find out more about the personalised process, take a look here.