Muuto, the brand, was founded in 2006 by Kristian Byrge and Peter Bonnen in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company’s name, appropriately, comes from the Finnish word meaning “new perspective”. In less than two decades, it’s made a distinctive name for contemporary furniture and accessories with clean lines and organic shapes; it’s not afraid of colour or fun. Best of all, it’s known for being good value. “It’s high-end design but it’s effortless and inviting,” says Jane Roulston, of Unison Spaces, the firm behind the Muuto brand in Aotearoa.

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Muuto, the store, opened earlier this year in a former industrial workshop on a back street in Newmarket, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. The space features raw concrete, rugged timber beams and touches of stainless steel. Remarkably, it’s just the fourth flagship store for the brand worldwide – coming ahead of major cities in Australia – and one of very few standalone stores of its type in Aotearoa.

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It’s part of a global rollout of Muuto stores. It feels immersive – a single-minded celebration of a modern furniture brand. But why is New Zealand so receptive to Muuto’s charms? “I think it’s the colour and the softness,” says retail manager Theo Newbold. “Muuto is not afraid of colour – it’s adventurous.”

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The new space is high-ceilinged, appropriately European, with heavy wooden beams, but it also has softer touches, like a parquet timber floor. To this, the Unison team has added a colour palette in muted shades, and a timber dowel wall. It fits perfectly with the brand’s soft, humanistic design.

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While the store is new, the team behind it isn’t. Unison and Roulston have worked with Muuto, supplying office fitouts for the past 12 years (they also work with the likes of Herman Miller and Knoll). Last year, she was in Chicago for NeoCon, the commercial design trade show, when she had dinner with the Muuto team, and found they were planning a store in Auckland.

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Despite having said she’d never do retail – and the tricky economy of 2025 – she jumped. “I just thought between the contract and retail, we could grow this brand really nicely,” she says. “It’s design you might expect to see in a high-end space, yet it’s something most people can actually experience and bring into their own homes. Essentially, accessible and attainable design.”

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Muuto

8 Kent St, Newmarket, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

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