What are your thoughts on the theme KEEP IT REAL?

The theme reflects a feeling that has lived within me for a while. The world feels so confusing, wonderful, and fatalistic all at once right now. It feels intuitive to turn inward, find your own path, and create communities close to home, as the larger world seems to be moving in many directions at once. As a creative, I’m influenced by movements, the course of history, moods, and everything in between. If you don’t take a proper breath of the world every day, it becomes difficult to work in design. Design is behaviour. And our behaviour is coloured by our surroundings. The world is spinning fast these days. Right now, it feels like a gift to sit for two minutes in a sunbeam without interruption, to lie under the covers with your loved ones, to read something beautiful, and to laugh wholeheartedly. As I see it, the value right now lies in the small details—and the same applies to design.

What does it mean to you, to keep it real?

From time to time, the world gives you a chance—or forces you—to adopt something you struggle to comprehend, expands your understanding, and asks you to accept states of being you never imagined. Within that space lies potential for growth—and that’s exciting. No people, situations, or conditions are permanent, and this current time really highlights that sense of fluidity. Making the concept of “keeping it real” the more relevant. You have to reach toward what you can engage with, reflect on your values, and anchor yourself in those with whom you feel a sense of kinship. You are what you are. That’s what “keep it real” means to me: to find your anchor and your integrity. To sit with both the good and the bad, to see the nuances, to find beauty in the shadows and the flaws.

How is your expression unique to you?

In a way, everything you do is unique—and at the same time, none of it is. We are all individuals within a crowd. And really, that’s what I find most fascinating. That individuality naturally leads to community. The moment you acknowledge someone’s individuality and their unique abilities, you also bring these into a shared understanding—a community—that builds bonds, bridges gaps, and allows individual expression to flourish. So we’re most unique through others. I feel that energy strongly in my work—the dynamic between individual contribution and the collective strengths of the team.

What do you think the world needs more of? And less of?

Always “more love, not less,” as a wise woman once told me. It’s simple, but also striking how hard it can be—especially when life gets tough. But it always works. Beyond that, I think the world could use a bit more minding one’s own business. In the sense that only through a bit of separation can intimacy arise – because you can’t truly see someone else fully unless you have a little distance. My feeling at the moment is that we live in a world where everything has become very personal. To put it bluntly: you’re not going to get your job back in the coal industry by stripping trans people of their right to choose which bathroom they use. Things are getting strangely mixed up, and we could definitely use a lot less of that. We need to step back a bit and start seeing each other as whole individuals.

^{During 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen, Mazo's showroom will transform into THE HUB, a dynamic workspace created in collaboration with Mazo and BODUM and conceptualised and designed by Studio Nathalie Schwer. More than just a traditional work hub, this project serves as a “work lab,” exploring how design supports both work and social moments, which often overlap in daily life. Through carefully chosen material choices and spatial composition, THE HUB demonstrates how even small design choices can enhance the workplace experience. As part of the installation, Studio Nathalie Schwer has designed a custom room divider that enables to create different zones within the space.}