Against Perfection: Hem and the Unexpected Standard with Petrus Palmér

There’s a particular kind of energy that doesn’t announce itself loudly, but quietly changes the way we experience a space. Hem was born from that impulse: not to reject the history of design, but to open a conversation with it. Founded by Petrus Palmér, Hem exists between reverence and rebellion, drawing from the legacy of European design while creating space for a generation driven less by perfection and more by expression.

Tim: What is the thread that connects every product Hem creates?

Petrus: I think it’s the unexpected. That’s why we’re in this in the first place. We’re always looking for something that gets us excited, something as far away from the mundane as possible. Something surprising. We wanted to create a place for a new generation of designers.

Tim: When you started Hem, what was the original idea behind the brand?

Petrus: I’ve been in this industry my entire working life. As a designer, I worked with some of the best design companies in the world, from Cappellini and De Padova to IKEA. I love this industry. But design is old. Many of the companies, designers, and products I admired came from another era. There was a new generation with incredible energy, but they didn’t really have a commercial platform. When I started Hem, I wanted to create a place for them, a brand that respected the history, craft, and culture of design, but also challenged it and introduced something new.

Tim: Do you see Hem as a generational design company?

Petrus: 100%. Culture is created by people who grow up together, look at the world around them, and decide how they want to contribute to it. Every generation breaks with the one before it. A lot of the designers we partnered with early on were aware of the design landscape they came from, but they wanted to do something different. Max Lamb showed us that you don’t have to be conformist. You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing.

Tim: How did working with Max Lamb influence Hem’s identity?

Petrus: Max is probably the most significant collaboration in Hem’s history when it comes to defining our DNA. When we first spoke, there was almost no production left in the UK. So Max went to the beach and cast pewter stools. He cut down trees and made objects from what he had access to. He showed us that something can be crude, basic, and honest, but still sophisticated and culturally relevant.

Tim: What comes after the idea of perfect industrial design?

Petrus: We don’t want to see perfect anymore. We want to see the imperfect. The personal. We want to understand where people come from, what their stories are, and why they create. I look for people who are curious, who go their own way and don’t conform to traditional ideas of what a designer should be.

I always look for people who are curious, who go their own way.

Tim: How do you choose the designers Hem works with?

Petrus: It has always been intuitive. More gut feeling than anything else. There’s a red thread: curiosity, instinct, and excellence. The designers we work with have their own perspective. They create innovative work, but they do it at an incredibly high level.

Tim: What makes your collaboration with Kwangho Lee special?

Petrus: Kwangho doesn’t really care what people call him. He works across different disciplines, from knitting with colorful ropes to metalwork, but he’s also deeply connected to culture, fashion, and art. That freedom is what makes his work interesting.

Tim: Is creative freedom more important than a traditional brief?

Petrus: The purest collaborations happen when there is already an idea, a need, or an exploration. A lot of our designers exist between art and design. They understand the commercial framework, but they don’t create only to achieve commercial success. The process comes from somewhere more personal.

Tim: What is one word you always return to when thinking about Hem?

Petrus: Unexpected. We have a phrase: Imaginative designs of obsessive quality. But unexpected is the word I always come back to. I always want people to be surprised.