A few months ago, we visited Vipp and met its founder and owner, Jette Egelund, who gave us a full walkthrough of the headquarters she created for what was once a tiny, struggling company making sturdy metal trash cans with a pedal—objects that Scandinavian professionals quietly recommended to one another for their durability and precision.

More than 20 years ago, Jette bought an old pencil factory on Copenhagen’s Islands Brygge for next to nothing—less than the price of an apartment in what was then a rundown, overlooked part of the city—and moved in. With very little money, she focused on fixing only the essentials. A small room in the back became her functional, cozy apartment, while the rest of the factory turned into a live-work space devoted almost entirely to a single object: a pedal bin her father had originally designed for her mother’s beauty salon.

Money was tight, so Jette learned metalworking and began making the products herself, saving what she could to experiment and grow. The early days were marked by that kind of resourceful thinking: her first product wasn’t even a bin, but a toilet brush, made affordably by cutting up a standard downspout and turning it into something simple, durable, and quietly elegant.

From that modest base, Vipp slowly grew into an entire universe of objects—from small home complements to sought-after kitchens, interiors, and eventually architecture, including the high-end prefab Vipp Shelter, which we visited several years ago.

In retrospect, Jette Egelund’s work offers more than a brand story. Through patience, restraint, and a refusal to chase trends, she helped give form to many of the values now associated with Scandinavian design: objects made to last, shaped by use, and quietly integrated into everyday life.