2025 marks the 70th anniversary of a Danish design icon: the Ocean Collection, born in 1955 from the visionary creativity of Nanna and Jørgen Ditzel. To take up the legacy is Mater, a Danish brand pioneer in green-tech design, which since 2019 has been able to reinterpret this historic collection in the name of sustainability and innovation.
Originally called Havestol (literally “garden chair”), the collection was designed for outdoor furniture with a painted steel structure and laminated wood seats, produced on the Danish island of Funen. Today, under Mater’s leadership, the Ocean Collection is experiencing a new season, remaining faithful to the original aesthetic but with cutting-edge materials: recycled fishing nets, plastic collected from the oceans, medical waste such as insulin pens and, recently, even e-waste.
The new finishes “Black”, “Sand”, “Green” and “Burnt Red” tell not only a refined style, but a real mission: to transform waste into resources, limit pollution and conserve natural resources. Each piece in the collection — chairs, benches, tables — is designed to be disassembled and recycled in all its parts, following the principles of the circular economy.
The collection’s light shape, metal structure and rhythmic slats reflect Nanna Ditzel’s original inspiration: to create design objects that recall the lightness and grace of butterflies. An idea that, 70 years later, keeps its expressive power intact.
To celebrate the anniversary, Mater photographed the collection in the place where it all began: Nanna Ditzel’s summer house in Hornbæk, now inhabited by her daughter Vita. A place steeped in history and affection, where furnishings and objects that belonged to the two designers still live today.
Mater’s CEO, Ketil Årdal, emphasizes how the collaboration with the Ditzel Foundation is a way to honor a great legacy, but also to push beyond conventions, leading design into a new era of environmental responsibility. Dennie Ditzel, the designers’ daughter, shares the same opinion, praising Mater’s ability to make a project born in 1955 appear “modern and vital”.
With the Ocean Collection, Mater demonstrates that good design is timeless: it manages to speak to the present, honoring the past and anticipating the needs of the future. A lesson in style and sustainability that celebrates not only Danish ingenuity, but also the transformative power of innovation.
INFO: Tomorrow PR; http://www.materdesign.com
PHOTO COURTESY:
– Lifestyle images courtesy of Line Klein Thit
– Stock images courtesy of K. Helmer Petersen & Nanna Ditzel Design
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