Alain van Havre

Shaping the Language of Ethnicraft

Alain van Havre has spent more than two decades shaping the furniture of Ethnicraft as the Belgian brand's head designer. Central to his work is an extensive knowledge of woodworking and an interest in finding greater expression within solid timber. Rather than allowing function alone to determine a piece, he looks to nature, movement and architecture for ways to develop its structure and visual identity.

This thinking is particularly evident in the Bok collection, where curved lines and sculpted transitions give substantial timber an unexpectedly light appearance. Developed over several years before the chair launched in 2016, Bok has since expanded across seating and tables and become one of Ethnicraft's defining furniture families. It is also extensively represented at Huset, making it a meaningful example of van Havre's work rather than a passing product reference.

Elsewhere, van Havre explores movement through surface and composition. For the Graphic collection, angular forms inspired by mountain landscapes are arranged into layered geometric patterns across timber façades. Although very different from Bok, the underlying interest is consistent: using the possibilities of wood to give otherwise static furniture a stronger sense of movement