Hem launches many-fingered ottoman by "rising star" Kusheda Mensah

This week's 3 Days of Design festival in Copenhagen will see Hem debut a much-hyped pouf by Kusheda Mensah, marking the first time the Swedish furniture house has collaborated with a Black designer.

The Palma pouf resembles a giant palm frond with either two, three or five "fingers", designed to be combined into a sea of informal seating that can be adapted as needed.

Occupants can tuck their legs and other extremities in amongst the ottoman's many limbs, allowing for sitting and lounging in any direction.

Palma is an evolution of a much-talked-about design, originally presented by the British-Ghanaian designer at Milan design week in 2018 under the name Mutual.

The pouf with its distinctive anthropomorphic shape earned her features in Vogue and Dezeen, which listed Mensah as one of 10 designers to watch from the event. Collaborations with Adidas and Clarks followed shortly after.

But despite the hype, Mensah said she lacked the funding to mass produce the product, outside of commissions from private and commercial clients.

"What I found, just by being small me, was that I just didn't have the infrastructure to be able to create those units, to be able to to give them to the public to buy," she told Dezeen.

"It required a company to be able to pick that kind of thing up and really believe in it – and Hem did."

Hem founder Petrus Palmér recognised Mensah as a "rising star" and reached out to her in 2023 on Instagram, shortly after the designer had her second baby, Soleil.

"Kusheda's work was an instant love affair," Palmér said.

What followed was a two-year development process, which the designer likens to dating. "You're courting and seeing where the ideas go," she joked.

The resulting collaboration marks the first time that Hem has launched a product by a Black designer since the company was founded in 2014.

For Kusheda, it was a dream collaboration taken straight from her vision board, providing her with the financial, logistical and creative backing to realise the design.

Her aim is to create a modern equivalent of classic chairs like Mario Bellini's Bambole armchair from 1972, which are still in use today.

"My challenge as a designer was always how to create something that felt like it had longevity, that could stand the test of time," she said.

"Because that's, for me, a way that I look at sustainability: how long something can last, how it can be passed down."

The design will be stocked in a handful of natural textiles including wood, boucle and chrome-free leather, while a wider selection of upholstery options will be available on a made-to-order basis to prevent unnecessary overproduction.

Palma's launch at 3 Days of Design marks the first time that Mensah has exhibited at a design festival since 2018, when she showed her original pouf as part of SaloneSatellite – a dedicated platform for emerging designers at Salone del Mobile, the world's most important furniture fair.

At the time, the designer was working in retail and had just finished her degree in surface design at the London College of Communication, where she produced a prototype of the ottoman for her graduation project.

To raise the money to turn this prototype into a full-on collection, ship it to Milan and pay for a stall at SaloneSatellite – where even having lighting on her stall cost an extra £200 – Mensah ended up having to take out a private loan from a bank.

"It was do or die," she remembered. "I haven't shown anything since then, because it was such an intense time. I spent so much money."

"Satellite should be completely free," Mensah added. "You'd probably get more interesting talent."

Ahead of 3 Days of Design's official kick-off tomorrow, Dezeen has rounded up 10 things not to miss, including a Tableau exhibition and workshops at the BIG HQ.

The photography is by Erik Wåhlström.

3 Days of Design 2025 takes place from 18 to 20 June in Copenhagen, Denmark. For more information about events, exhibitions and talks, visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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