Cecilie Manz About Staying True



Pieces of design can be described as tactile and useful objects integrated in our daily lives. This last year, our routines have changed, and we have become more attentive to the furniture close to us, discovering characteristics and new details. Danish designer Cecilie Manz has created some of the pieces that surround us.







The collaboration between Cecilie Manz and Fredericia was initiated in 2003 with an entry to the yearly Cabinetmaker’s Guild Exhibition venue at the Design Museum Denmark. Fredericia has a long history of working closely with important Danish designers as Børge Mogensen and Nanna Ditzel. By launching a collaboration with Manz, Fredericia continued an essential task in the continuously evolving Danish design history.

Manz, who after graduating from The Royal Academy in Copenhagen in 1997 worked in Helsinki the following year, designed the small occasional table, Micado, for the exhibition. Named after the Micado game with entangled sticks, three thin wooden legs hold a delicate tray. Together, the pieces form a small yet visually vital element of design with a humoristic approach. Manz’s young and optimistic approach to the design indicated a breakthrough; a new generation entered the Danish design scene. Manz, educated and founded in the Danish design tradition, let the parts fall apart and assembled them in her way. The design process and result seem playfully easy, unburdening the user of the vast amount of work that comes before the final result. The table was afterward put into production and has been so since.
Post – a historic building and a distinctive armchair and table
When opening the showroom in the center of Copenhagen, it was time for Fredericia to reignite the collaboration with Cecilie Manz. Like previously working with the Cabinetmaker’s Guild Exhibition, the brief of designing an armchair and a table was solved through intense dialogue and close collaboration between the maker and the designer. The result, the Post chair and table stand as contemporary manifestations of the Danish furniture tradition.

Designing the Post pieces was filled with nostalgia for Cecilie Manz. The central post office in Løvstræde was filled with memories, as this was where everyone often went. When the former headquarters of the Royal Danish Mail in the center of Copenhagen closed, fortunately, Fredericia took over the space of the former café. And Manz returned in more than one way.





The armchair and the table interact, yet they are individual pieces, and the elegant simplicity makes them useful in various interiors. According to Manz, a chair needs to fit both the body and space. With the assignment to design an armchair, she began the process, sketching, modeling, and finally presenting a contemporary chair true to the core of Fredericia and the Danish design heritage. Her many years of experience make some decisions more straightforward, yet every project is a new opportunity. The first impression of the Post chair consists of a combination of recognition and curiousness -the expression is recognizable, yet it is as nothing you have experienced before. The armchair, with its solid rounded legs, has a slightly curved plywood seat, which makes the chair light in its appearance, and it calls for attention.








Dedication, care, and precision are combined with extraordinary patience -the ability to let time work for you in the process -the result seems effortless, and the hard labor put into the project does not show. The round legs soften the solid base of the Post table and the structure, which is retracted from the front, letting the tabletop float -this feature looks elegant and easy but results from many years of experience. Cecilie Manz has a unique ability to extract from her vast knowledge and leaving only was needed in a work of hers. When touching the delicate surface and excellent materials, you feel present and free.

According to Manz, it shows an inspiring surplus of Fredericia to make a showroom in the large space with the most beautiful view of Copenhagen. In collaboration with Fredericia, she has found a shared acknowledgment and mutual respect for the designers who worked with the company earlier, as Børge Mogensen and Nanna Ditzel. The Post chair and table is a statement of this, named after the building where the materialization of Danish design can be experienced in the Fredericia showroom and an appraisal to the history and great inspiration of craftsmanship, collaboration, and dialogue and a manifestation of ongoing evolution.

Text by Marie-Louise Høstbo

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Cecilie Manz

After graduation from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts - The School of Design in 1997, additionally studying at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki, Cecilie Manz founded her own studio in Copenhagen in 1998. Here, Cecilie Manz designs furniture, glass, lamps and related products, mainly for the home.

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Post Chair

Simplicity imbued with a sense of beauty is at the core of the Post Collection from Cecilie Manz. Clear, clean lines are the signature traits of the Post Chair, boasting a solid wood frame that reflects our heritage of wood craftsmanship and appreciation for authentic materials.


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Post Table

The Post Table illustrates the idea of eliminating anything extra to solely focus on the essential. A classic design expressed with modern minimalism, the table is made from solid oak, featuring loads of legroom in the wide space between the legs on either end.



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