In 2024, I was invited to participate in Danmarks Næste Klassiker, a national TV competition where I, along with four other skilled designers, had 22 weeks to design, develop, and produce six furniture pieces. Despite having no prior experience with furniture design and fundamentally disagreeing with unrealistic time frames, I embraced the challenge. Furthermore, I decided to build all the pieces myself to maintain control over the process and gain hands-on experience with materials and production methods that were new to me.

This season focused on Design in the Real World with site-specific assignments for real clients. While I appreciated that aspect—since clients' needs and briefs are what drive me to create—the extreme time pressure was, fortunately, far from real-world design. However, I was intrigued by the opportunity to experiment, test my limits, and challenge my streak of never missing a deadline.

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The time constraints forced me to trust my intuition and make quick decisions. I realized that believing in my own capabilities was crucial to avoid panicking—even when facing the pressure to solve fundamental problems  just hours before a deadline. I also learned that my ambition doesn’t always align with the given time frame—a tough but valuable lesson that, in some cases, pushed me further than I thought possible.

I achieved my goal of rediscovering the playful joy and passion of design, reconnecting with a hands-on process where experimentation and modeling led to the final results. It was a challenge filled with steep learning curves, invaluable new knowledge and experience—and far too little sleep.

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