Against the grain: introducing Foundrywood founder Mats Christéen
Mats Christéen has gone from professional hockey player, to model to rising furniture design star

Mats Christéen’s journey into furniture design is as remarkable as they come. Drafted into the world of professional hockey as a teen, he moved into high fashion modelling before the design world beckoned in 2013. That was the year he started Foundrywood.
Marrying the natural beauty of organic and reclaimed materials with the pure and modern lines of Scandinavian design, Christéen has staked his business on the type of rustic industrialism that harks back to his roots and embraces his new home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He oversees all of the creative design and still crafts a limited number of pieces for The Mats Christéen collection under the Foundrywood brand.
His aesthetic ranges from thick salvaged beams bookended between two metal blocks – a bench needing only its most archetypal elements – to the visual and intellectual puzzle of the 'Jenga' dining table, made up of intersecting white pine beams.
Between this balance of delicacy and power, a raw edge persists – literally, in the case of the unfinished side of the 'Fractal' coffee table.
Swede-turned-Brooklynite Mats Christéen started Foundrywood in 2013
The 'Jenga' dining table tops puzzle-like pine beams with a clear glass table top
'Fractal' coffee table
Before Foundrywood, Mats was a professional hockey player and model. Building with raw materials was a part of his Swedish childhood
'Water Tower' bench
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Foundrywood website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
The bespoke Jaguar E-Type GTO melds elements from every era of the classic sports car
ECD Automotive Design’s one-off commission caters to a client who wanted to combine the greatest hits of Jaguar’s E-Type along with modern conveniences and more power
-
Casa Sanlorenzo debuts in Venice as a new hub for contemporary art
The luxury yachting leader unveils a stunning new space in a palazzo restored by Piero Lissoni – where art, innovation, and sustainability come together
-
Once vacant, London's grand department stores are getting a new lease on life
Thanks to imaginative redevelopment, these historic landmarks are being rebonr as residences, offices, gyms and restaurants. Here's what's behind the trend