Karl Zahn for Areaware

Karl Zahn for Areaware

Karl Zahn is a freelance product and furniture designer in Greenpoint Brooklyn. His work examines contemporary materials and historical technologies in an attempt to create modern hybrids that are more applicable, beautiful and sustainable.

His designs express a pared down simplicity and stark aesthetic as a blend of modernist hard lines and surfaces with a Danish sensitivity to materials and joinery. Each piece is designed to withstand the passing of trends and foster complex relationships that grow more endearing over time.

Born and raised in rural Vermont, his work with wood and natural materials is an extension of the teachings from his home and time spent playing in forests and woodshops. After earning a degree in product design from the Rhode Island School of Design (2003), he travelled to San Francisco where he immersed himself in the creative and complicated metal working culture that thrives there. In 2007, he moved to New York to begin working on his own.

He has since had the opportunity to work with such established companies as Artecnica, AREAWARE, Teroforma, Lindsey Adelman Studio and Roll & Hill, as well as continuing collaborations with up and coming designers.