2005
Founded on Friendship – Guided by Curiosity
After meeting at Aalborg University in 2005, Jasper Overgaard and Christian Dyrman began working on several student projects together. Three years later, and with a Bachelor of Science on their CVs, they both moved to Copenhagen and started at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design & Conservation, from where they graduated in January 2011 with a Master of Furniture and Spatial Design.
2005
Shared Passion, Complimentary Skills
What started as a friendship between two classmates, grew into a collaborative partnership. The studies became a playground for exploring crafts, to gain comprehensive knowledge about materials and technologies, and to evolve individual and collaborative skills. Those years undoubtedly set the foundation for what would later become Overgaard & Dyrman.
2011
Out in the real world
After graduating, the two aspiring furniture designers got jobs in two different design and development companies at each end of the country. Even though Christian had moved to the Northern part of Denmark, while Jasper stayed in Copenhagen, the idea of starting something together grew in them. Alongside their respective jobs they continued to exchange creative ideas, and sketches and technical drawings were regularly sent across the country.
“One day during the Roskilde Festival (the largest music festival in Denmark), between two concerts, we went to my brother’s place in Roskilde to register a chair design, we had been working on for quite some time. In the same period, we also got second at a design competition held by a big Danish furniture brand with another design – the winning piece of furniture was put into production. None of the chairs have been realized, but they played a role in the development of our own direction and style, which was later expressed in the Wire collection”. – Jasper Overgaard
2013
Becoming Overgaard & Dyrman
The initial idea for the Wire Collection originated when Christian and Jasper were students by combining the knowledge from their studies with individual skills. Prior to the design studies, Christian was educated as a skilled blacksmith, while Jasper explored the possibilities of leather crafting, and these two specialty skills helped them develop and refine their debut furniture collection – a synthesis of two distinct and time-honored crafts: saddlery and precision metalwork.
At one point, two established brands showed interest in bringing the Wire Dining Chair into production. But after being disappointed by the prototypes, Christian and Jasper realized that to achieve the quality they wanted, they were going to produce the chair themselves.
Then, in the beginning of 2013, they decided to go all in. Overgaard & Dyrman was founded.
2013 – 2014
Innovation Made by Hand
Over the next eighteen months, the founders bought, borrowed, and built all the tools they needed to make the first Wire Chairs in the right way.
“The first 300 pieces were made entirely by Jasper and me. I did all the metal work in my sister’s former hen house and Jasper did all the leather work in a tiny makeshift leather workshop in his childhood bedroom. It was a sparse setup, but we had to make it work with the few resources we had.” – Christian Dyrman
2014
The Wire Collection
After the completion of the Wire Dining Chair, the Lounge Chair and Lounge Sofa soon followed. Presented at the German IMM Cologne fair in January 2014, and shortly after being awarded ‘best furniture’ at an event at the World Interiors News Awards in London, the Wire Collection was officially launched.
2015
The Overgaard & Dyrman Workshop
With a collection of furniture and a growing demand, the first skilled craftsman joined the team in the newly established workshop in Northern Denmark. In the following years, the Wire Bar Stool and Wire Stool joined the collection. Then as now, all Wire Collection pieces are made-to-order, and each chair is individually stamped and numbered by hand by its maker.
2019
The Circle Collection
With an expanding team of skilled craftsmen, and a growing international reputation for design originality and uncompromising quality, O&D launched their second collection of furniture in 2019 – starting with the Circle Dining Chair.
With the Circle Collection, O&D aimed for a collection of chairs that would challenge other materials than steel and leather – and a collection with a high degree of customization, both in terms of typology and materials.
Crafted with both contemporary and time-honored craft techniques, including CNC-machinery, traditional wood joinery, precision metal work, and classic upholstery, the Circle Collection became the natural continuation to the Wire Collection.
2024
From Chair to Table
A new collection will be presented during autumn 2024.