Lars had a chat in Danish with Kristina May on the Design Kan podcast. Kristina is a good friend. She's also the founder of AM, the Copenhagen-based creative agency that helped us bring the Ro identity to life.
The conversation covers growing up on a farm, working with design for two decades, hitting the wall, small adventures, and why Ro exists.
Lars Larsen has designed award-winning headphones for DJs, tableware for Royal Copenhagen and furniture for Fritz Hansen, among other design milestones. It was a night in the bed of his summer house that Ro was born. For the first time in a long time creativity had come back on its own.
"I was lying in bed designing crab rods"
Before that night came years of a brain running at full speed, too many projects and too little sleep. Lars describes it as a slow build-up he couldn’t see from the inside.
Burnout followed. And with it the decision to shut everything down. He moved up to the summer house. Cooked over a fire. Caught crabs. Walked slowly and watched insects.
"For a long time I thought I would never design anything again."
But nature did its quiet work. Then the idea came.
"Why are so many outdoor products hidden away in the garage? Maybe you could make something with enough quality to last. Something with enough character that you'd actually want it around."
Ro is not built to grow fast. Lars takes it one day at a time and holds to the pace that feels right for the project — and for him.
"If the brand is called Ro, which means calm in Danish, we have to take it easy."
The Crab rod is the first product. A simple piece of Danish ash wood with a specially developed spring clamp and a cord in 100% recycled polyester. Handcrafted by Lars in a barn in rural Denmark, and produced on machines that the Ro-founder largely built himself.
