Emma Donnersberg, Architect of Living Ecosystems

Emma Donnersberg approaches design as a system of relationships rather than a collection of objects. In Paris, at her space on rue de Verneuil, furniture, art and architecture operate like a single organism. Donnersberg doesn’t decorate; she engineers environments where every element breathes with the next. Her practice has evolved from classic interior architecture into something far more ambitious: the creation of living ecosystems.

Emma Donnersberg: From Interior Designer to Ecosystem Builder

Emma Donnersberg began her career shaping interiors with the constraint of sourcing existing pieces. The true shift happened when she started designing her own furniture. Suddenly, she could build a room from the inside out, guided not by limitations but by emotional intention.

Instead of asking What fits here? she asked How should this place feel? Movement, pause, softness, focus, each became part of her vocabulary. In Donnersberg’s world, a chair shapes circulation, a mirror influences light, and a table anchors mood. Conversely, nothing is ornamental; everything interacts.

Nature became her compass. Yet she avoids literal replication. What interests her is nature’s behaviour:how clouds expand, how stones erode, how mushrooms emerge unpredictably. These movements reappear in her work as round silhouettes, elevated clusters and generous, tactile volumes. Her materials, including oak, walnut, stone, ceramics, boiled wool and brushed aluminum reinforce this organic pulse.

Organika: When Objects Become Living Presences

Her first design universe, Organika, crystallised her philosophy. The Mushrooms and Cèpes pieces blur the line between sculpture and function, acting almost like small organisms inhabiting a room. The Cloud dining chairs soften the idea of seating into buoyant forms, inviting the body rather than dictating posture.

Then there is the Galet table, shaped like an oversized polished pebble. Whether resting on wooden legs or hand-sculpted stone bases, it behaves like a geological anchor. Chiefly, a piece with gravity, capable of quietly centering a space.

Across Organika, Donnersberg builds a language of comfort, movement and subtle eccentricity. Her objects don’t just fill a room; they shift it. To live with them is to coexist with pieces that feel gently animated.

DELHI: Monumental Architecture, Softened for Daily Life

In January 2026, Donnersberg enters a new chapter with DELHI, a collection inspired by the monumental architecture of India’s capital. Rather than quoting buildings directly, she translates their rhythm and grandeur into functional forms.

The Arcus Lounge Chair echoes the curve of gateways. The Kerala mirror bends like a reimagined arch. The Marigold sofa and Jaipur daybed reinterpret architectural symmetry into relaxed silhouettes. Color, line and scale shift Delhi’s monumental presence into intimate domestic objects.

DELHI will unfold across Europe in 2026: revealed during In The City in January, shown at Art Paris in April, and reinterpreted at Milan Design Week. Each event marks a new facet of the collection—new materials, new variations, new narratives.

At her gallery, Donnersberg completes the ecosystem by pairing her designs with artists like Ileana García Magoda and Isabella Vella. Their work doesn’t decorate, it converses. A Cloud chair under an expressive canvas becomes a duet. A ceramic Cèpes piece punctuates space with quiet force.

Ultimately, living with Emma Donnersberg’s work feels like living inside a landscape. Ultimately, one composed not of trees and stones, but of curves, shadows and sculptural presences. Organika and DELHI may differ in origin, yet both express the same mission: to craft environments where humans feel held, grounded and subtly transformed.

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