18.10.2016 | Text Nina Ludolphi | Photo Abdellah Ihadian
| Camera Modest Department
Mette Hay has a sixth sense for whether a good design idea can become something extraordinary within the HAY cosmos. Fourteen years ago, Mette, her husband Rolf and their business partner Troels Holch Povlsen decided to found a humble furniture shop in Copenhagen. Despite their lack of formal design education or business experience, the store’s philosophy of affordable yet beautiful design made it an instant success.
A lot of ideas will die if there is too much business involved in the creative process.
Mette Hay
Overwhelming customer demand led Mette to slowly and steadily expand HAY from exclusively furniture to a Technicolor design universe of everything from pillows to earplugs to erasers. Using only her gut feeling of HAY’s brand identity as her guide, her instinct has helped skyrocket the company to 20 stores worldwide and a highly anticipated IKEA collaboration which will be hitting the shelves in 2017.
In the midst of preparing HAY’s showcase at the CHART Art Fair in Copenhagen, the enchanting Mette took some time for She’s Mercedes and told us more about her instinct-based approach towards business affairs.