Gubi hunts design treasure.

Gubi is a lesson in curating design history and the present at once. It was founded in 1967 in Denmark (Copenhagen) by Gubi Olsen and his wife Lisbeth Olsen, and was long run by their son, Jacob “Gubi” Olsen (still CEO) — “Gubi” is a family name, not just a brand. (Two honest notes: no official brand hex is published, and the wordmark typeface is undocumented.)

Gubi’s signature model is curation: it blends re-editions of rediscovered 20th-century icons with new contemporary commissions, positioned, in its own words, “at the point where the beauty of history meets the thrill of right now.” It’s a design treasure-hunter — diving into archives to relaunch forgotten pieces, while also driving today’s design.

The two poles show the model perfectly. The Beetle Chair (by GamFratesi, 2013) is an original, contemporary Gubi commission — not a re-edition. The Bestlite (the BL series) is a re-edition of a British design by Robert Dudley Best from 1930 (reputedly favoured by Winston Churchill) — Danish Gubi keeps this British classic in production. Other celebrated re-editions include Greta Grossman’s Gräshoppa and Cobra lamps, Louis Weisdorf’s Multi-Lite pendant (1972) and Pierre Paulin’s Pacha lounge chair (1975). Gubi’s look is rich, moody and jewel-toned — deep greens, burgundies, brass and dramatic finishes. (An honest, important note on ownership: Gubi is not family-owned today — in May 2019, the Danish private-equity firm Axcel, with Chr. Augustinus Fabrikker, acquired a majority, with Jacob Olsen staying on as CEO and a minority shareholder.) Where history meets right now.

Gubi lives in moody, jewel-toned colour. Click a swatch to copy the hex.

Gubi’s identity leans on a rich, moody, jewel-toned palette — deep forest and emerald greens, burgundy and oxblood, brass and gold, dramatic dark neutrals and sophisticated finishes. The tones read as luxurious, atmospheric and curatorial — the colours of a beautifully-styled interior or a moody design showroom rather than bright, everyday product — matching a brand that revives glamorous mid-century icons and stages them with drama. It’s an opulent, editorial palette that signals sophistication and design-savvy. The honest caveat: Gubi publishes no official brand hex, so the jewel green, burgundy and brass here are an original, unofficial interpretation, not first-party values.

The lesson is a jewel-toned palette signals curatorial sophistication. Gubi’s green-burgundy-and-brass world reads as luxurious and atmospheric. For designers, it’s a reminder that rich, moody tones can convey design sophistication and drama. The takeaways: use jewel tones for atmospheric sophistication; add brass for warmth and glamour; and treat specific hexes as unofficial when the palette is a styling language.

The wordmark is an editorial serif — moody and curatorial.

Gubi’s identity carries a moody, editorial, curatorial spirit — the all-caps “GUBI” wordmark whose refined, high-contrast letterforms read as sophisticated, design-literate and dramatic. An editorial serif captures the mood: it feels like a design magazine or a curated showroom, matching a brand that stages jewel-toned interiors and revives glamorous icons. Set against a moody, jewel-toned palette, the type feels editorial and curatorial — exactly the “history meets right now” personality Gubi cultivates. It’s refined and dramatic rather than plain or technical, mirroring the atmospheric, styled world of the brand. Because the exact wordmark face isn’t publicly documented, the honest description is “an editorial serif spirit,” not a named font. The type behaves like the brand: moody, editorial and curatorial.

Gubi curates, not just designs.

Gubi is a lesson in curation as a design brand’s core value. Most furniture brands either design new pieces or reissue old ones; Gubi built its identity on doing both, with a curator’s eye — hunting archives to rescue forgotten mid-century icons (a British 1930 lamp, a Swedish-American 1940s floor lamp, a French 1970s chair) while commissioning fresh contemporary designs (the Beetle Chair). That curatorial breadth is the whole differentiator: Gubi isn’t a single designer’s studio or a single-era revivalist; it’s a taste-maker that assembles a coherent, moody, jewel-toned world from across design history and the present. The value is editorial — customers trust Gubi’s eye to find and stage the beautiful, wherever it comes from. Backed by real design credibility (genuine archival rights and respected contemporary designers) and, since 2019, investor scale (Axcel), it turned taste into a brand. The lesson is that a strong, consistent curatorial point of view — the confidence to mix eras and origins under one aesthetic — can be as powerful a differentiator as originating designs. Curate boldly, and taste becomes the brand.

For designers and brand-builders, Gubi offers a clear takeaway: a strong curatorial point of view can be a brand’s core value. The lessons: mix eras and origins under one coherent aesthetic (moody, jewel-toned); balance faithful re-editions with fresh commissions (Bestlite and the Beetle Chair); and let a consistent eye build trust. It’s also a reminder to keep the facts precise — Gubi was founded in 1967 in Denmark by the Olsens, blends re-editions with contemporary design, and has been majority-owned by Axcel since 2019 (not family-owned). Gubi curates, not just designs — proof that taste can be the difference.

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