Mads Odgård

Mads Odgård is a Danish designer, born in 1960. He studied at the School of Decorative Art (today the Royal Danish Academy of Architecture, Design, Conservation) in Copenhagen, and was quickly offered a job as a designer and model builder at LEGO even before he graduated. This work with the iconic rectangular LEGO bricks accompanied his already existing love for geometric shapes.

Odgård's work is minimalist, and he takes a 'less is more' approach through his design works, preferring to deduct details rather than add. More than anything, he believes that excellent design must be logical and functional if it is to endure. Throughout his career, Mads Odgård has created industrial designs based on this principle of cutting out superfluous details. The minimalist and rational aspects of his design process are still guiding Odgård’s work today. In 1988, Odgård founded The Mads Odgård Design Studio, where he has focused on product design with the mission to improve that which already exists and, most importantly, give the user spontaneous delight.

“When I’ve drawn something, I look at it and ask myself whether there’s anything I can leave out” - Mads Odgård