How LAAVE founder Pavel Merhout picks furniture worth living with

The founder of the Czech brand LAAVE, Pavel Merhout, builds his business on a simple idea: selling not just furniture, but pieces with a story and a meaning — pieces able to enhance a space even when no one is using them.

His approach was inspired by the famous Round Chair, created by designer Hans Wegner in 1949. It was on this very chair that John F. Kennedy sat during the historic televised debates with Richard Nixon in September 1960 — at the time, all eyes were on the candidates, and the chair remained an almost unnoticed backdrop. For Merhout, it's the perfect example of what good design should be: unobtrusive, yet meaningful.

The entrepreneur's interest in Scandinavian design grew out of years spent working in the Danish audio industry and collaborating with local companies. That's where he absorbed the Danish approach to product design: it's not enough to simply draw a beautiful object — you need to be able to explain and defend the idea, knowing where you can compromise and where a compromise would destroy the very essence of the concept.

LAAVE isn't a one-man project: Merhout's whole family handles the day-to-day work, orders and customer care, while he himself shapes the brand's philosophy and direction.

At the heart of how products are chosen is the brand's own “LAAVE Method,” which weighs proportions, honesty of materials, ease of use, resistance to fleeting trends, and the feeling a piece creates in a space. The brand's catalogue brings together affordable furniture and genuinely iconic design pieces — what unites them isn't price, but the quality of the design and craftsmanship.

According to Merhout, a buyer doesn't have to start straight away with a chair costing a hundred thousand crowns — they can choose an honestly made table or armchair at a regular price, knowing exactly why that particular piece made it into LAAVE's range. “It's important to understand what you're buying, why it costs exactly that much, and how long the piece will keep bringing you joy,” says the brand's founder.