ABOUT PETERSEN’S
Founded by Gary Edgar Petersen in 1996, PETERSEN’S is a design-manufacturer of contemporary furniture based in Cape Town, South Africa. The Petersen’s showroom displays a selection of freestanding pieces with the emphasis on attention to detail, proportion and fine craftsmanship. The Petersen’s brand comprises 12 furniture collections for the bedroom, living room and dining room, as well as a garden and patio range that has been successful through five South African summers.
The style is influenced by mid- to late-20th century designers such as Arne Jacobsen, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alex Kufus and Poul Bjerregaard, designed to suit your lifestyle, complement your home, and provide an urban refuge, visual pleasure and joy.
PETERSEN’S HALLMARKS
Our furniture is distinguished by the exceptional originality of design, which makes it a life-long companion to its owners. We try to perfect the art of combining traditional craftsmanship with technologically advanced methods of construction, and are continuously seeking ways of effectively using materials. Genuine veneers (from walnut, cherry and maple to rosewood, beech and oak) are the most economical way of using these precious woods, and lend a sensuality and warmth to any piece. All surfaces are sealed in a satin lacquer to enhance the characteristics of the timber.
PETERSEN’S PHILOSOPHY
Our focus is on providing furniture that carries aesthetic purity – it must stand on its own and speak volumes, requiring no decoration. It must be multi-functional and easy to dismantle and re-assemble. Our philosophy is characterised by a reduction to the essentials: material authenticity, perfection in the smallest detail, quality and lasting value.
By renouncing superfluous ornament, one has the emergence of furniture beyond fashion, thecreation of modern furniture classics. We want you to possess something very special and unique created by Petersen’s to make you feel, in your home, so much more ‘at home’. We want you to enjoy a sense of wellbeing with our furniture, so that living becomes more beautiful and life becomes better.
That is why our products are created to stand out against the superficial throwaway mentality. With Petersen’s you get classic furniture that is forward-looking yet with an enduring aesthetic and function.
FUTURE TRENDS
MD Gary Petersen envisages a fusion between indoor and outdoor areas. There is a realisation of using one’s home as a creative environment and a remote place to escape everyday stresses. As the desire for feeling at home increases, quality of living will be determined by aesthetic design that serves the individual.
A QUESTION OF TASTE
Petersen’s designs and manufactures furniture ranges that are contemporary rather than modern, epitomising style, simplicity and craftsmanship. The ranges are created to suit your lifestyle, complement your home, and provide you with an urban refuge, visual pleasure and personal joy. Step into the showroom and you will find a election of freestanding pieces for the bedroom, living room and dining room, characterised by fine craftsmanship and attention to detail and proportion.
As the desire for feeling at home grows stronger, ‘quality of life’ is being determined by designs that serve individuals; enabling them to surround themselves with the items they find the most appealing. A home is a very personal space that should be furnished to reflect individual tastes and needs. It is with this insight that Petersen’s undertakes to custom-design furniture items to client specifications.
‘What is beautiful?” asked American architect Christopher Alexander. “Beautiful things make me happy; they make me feel at home in this world, make me feel ‘whole’ and one with my soul.”
THE CREATION OF COMFORT
In the words of William Morris (1834 -1896), “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Our domestic surroundings play an important role in our lives. Apart from reflecting our taste, they also reveal our personality and individuality. With every article of furniture we acquire, we make progress towards our objective of achieving a lifestyle appropriate to our needs.
For this reason, Petersen’s places the utmost emphasis on developing distinctive, designorientated furniture that is richly original and of a standard that upholds the company’s reputation as a manufacturer of high-quality branded furniture. Petersen’s aims to perfect the art of combining traditional craftsmanship with technologically advanced methods of construction, and it strives to work respectfully with raw materials, creating products of lasting value.
The most economical way to use precious wood is in the form of genuine veneers. Distinctively grained and naturally beautiful, veneering lends a sensuality and warmth to any piece and indeed, to any room. All surfaces are sealed in a satin lacquered wood finish to enhance the characteristics of the timber that has been used to manufacture the piece of furniture.
A VISION
Gary Petersen envisages the development of design trends that represent a fusion of indoor and outdoor areas. Increasingly, our homes are seen as creative environments that allow us to escape from the everyday stress of modern life. With the beauty of South Africa as inspiration, pieces will be designed to create a natural flow between indoor and outdoor living – always emphasising the intrinsic beauty of the timber and ensuring a natural, untouched experience.
On the local front, there is an African identity and style being developed, but there is also a need to create greater competition in South Africa and a platform for emerging designers to model their work to the open market in order to stimulate the production of even better, more original designs. But a high standard of design quality cannot be achieved when there is a lack of training, understanding, knowledge and application of the technology used in the design and manufacturing of furniture.
In every aspect ofdesign this needs to be overcome first before a respectable level of design can be attained, and a high quality product delivered to the market place. Petersen’s understands that quality and excellence require a team of skilfully trained and dedicated craftsmen turning the best materials obtainable into superbly designed and manufactured furniture. For this reason they instil a sense of pride among their craftsmen, not merely seeing them as parts in a machine, but truly evoking a feeling of ownership and creative participation.