notes, reviews and photographs about current design, design shops, cafes and restaurants and exhibitions and galleries in Copenhagen
news, notes, photographs and thoughts about design, architecture, planning and townscape and exhibitions in Copenhagen
Next week … on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the 10th, 11th and 12th August … the annual craft market will be on Frue Plads with works from more than a hundred professional designers and makers who are members of Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere … the Danish association of artisans and designers.
Frue Plads is the square alongside Vor Frue Kirke - the square alongside the cathedral in Copenhagen.
Shown here are more than 250 projects by new graduates from Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - the Royal Academy of Architecture, Design and Conservation.
Set out through three tightly-packed spaces, the exhibition is arranged around the framework of the many and specific study programmes for architecture and design at the academy.
Since 2016, the UN Sustainable Development Goals have been a focal point for research and events at the royal academy and in their teaching programme and it’s graduation projects.
NEW DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE
23 June - 17 August 2023
note: closed 10-30 July
Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi
Skoler for Arkitektur, Design og Konservering
Danneskiold-Samsøe Allé
1435 København K
This exhibition - in the outdoor display cases on the entrance courtyard of the design museum - marks the anniversary of the design from 1923 of the typeface and a signpost system for the municipality of Gentofte by Knud Valdemar Engelhardt.
His font is distinctive and, once seen, can be identified easily on road signs throughout Gentofte.
Individual letters are rounded and generously spaced with low ascenders and short descenders …. letters such as o or m determine the general height of the lettering and here, in Engelhardt’s font, letters like k or h with ascenders and j or g with descenders are restricted so the overall height of the word is tightly controlled within the background of the sign itself.
In Engelhardt’s font the g and j are particularly distinct as the g has a simple straight descender -that does not curl under the round body of the letter - and the lower-case j, rather than having a full stop or dot above the stem of the letter, has a small red heart …. a ‘signature’ detail that is a play by Engelhardt’s on his own surname.
We now take for granted san serif lettering - lettering without the sharp triangular cuts at the top and bottom of verticals that came to printing from hand-drawn lettering and from lettering cut with chisels on wood or masonry, such as funeral monuments.
Engelhardt was born in 1881 when posters and commercial printing frequently revelled in mixing styles and sizes of font for impact. He trained at the academy and graduated in 1915 and clearly his design recognises work of the Art’s and Craft period with design by Thorvald Bindesbøll and Anton Rosen. This certainly does not detract from his design or suggest that it is derivative …. rather that it explains why the lettering sits comfortably within Danish design history and marks a crucial point when mass production and industrial production came of age and when quality and context became a significant consideration.
The most popular or, at least, the most obvious design by Engelhardt seen by citizens was a new tram for the city that he designed in 1910.
Engelhardt died in 1931, at the relatively young age of 49 but, although his career was short, he is a key figure in the history of Danish industrial design.
Urban Heartbeats
18 June 2023 to 2 October 2023
Designmuseum Danmark
Bredgade 68
1260 Købemhavn K
Ufortalte Historier - om kvinder, kon og arkitektur i Danmark
Untold Stories - on Women, Gender and Architecture in Denmark
Jannie Rosenberg Bendsen, Svava Riesto and Henriette Steiner
Strandberg Publishing
ISBN: 978-87-94102 67-4
Published 18 June 2023
A week or so ago, the Copenhagen publisher Strandberg sent me their press release for a new book on women in architecture in Denmark that was released today.
It covers the period from 1930 to 1980 that is generally recognised as the classic period for modern Danish design. Here the focus is on the architecture and the buildings linked with the emergence of the Danish welfare state and the key role played by women, working as architects and designers, in “creative collaborations that cut across genders and professional disciplines” and included the design of houses, major civic buildings, landscape architecture and urban planning.
The authors are part of an ongoing research project Women in Danish Architecture at the University of Copenhagen. Last summer they were part of the team that curated a major exhibition at the Danish Architecture Center on Women in Architecture in Denmark.
The book is published both in Danish and in an English edition for sale internationally.
Kvinder skaber rum / Women in architecture
at the Danish Architecture Center from 13 May 2022 to 23 October 2022
There was a lot of interest in the stand at Trends & Traditions that showed some of the designs from Danmarks næste klassiker - the Danish television series that was broadcast in the Spring. At least four of the designers were around to answer questions.
What was not obvious, from watching the programme, was the high quality of finish of the prototypes.
The format of the show means that the designers are set a project task and then have just three weeks to complete the design, source materials, resolve problems and produce a prototype either themselves, in their own workshops, or, where special technology is needed, work with small workshops or small industrial independents.
Several of the designers worked with 3D printers and again the quality of the finish, seen up close, is impressive and clearly that technology is improving rapidly.
The fourth television series of the design programme Danmarks næste klassiker has opened on DR - Danske Radio.
It follows the same format, with five designers and in each of the six episodes they are set the task of designing a specific type or piece of furniture for that episode. There are usually some particular functions or features that have to be incorporated into the work.
Again the presenter is Mette Bluhme Rieck with two well-known and well-established designers - Louise Campbell and Kasper Salto - who provide guidance and then judge the designs at a presentation at the end of each programme. Again this year, immediately before the final decision, the works are shown to a selection of the public to comment on and test the designs …. often with quite some humour.
Although the programmes are broadcast just a week apart, in reality the designers are given three full weeks to design and then produce their prototype. During those three weeks they record comments and short films on their progress, with sessions on line to discuss their design process with the judges and, during those three weeks, Mette Bluhme Rieck also visits the designers in their studios. This reveals much about how various ideas are developed and shows how the materials chosen and the practical and technical background of the designers themselves produce five designs of very very different character.
Yet again, what comes through clearly through the programmes, is that these designers rely on small independent workshops with specific skills in working with specific materials. This close relationship, between the designer and the craftsman or manufacturer, has always been crucial to the success of modern Danish design.
The task set for the first episode in this series was to design a table. Each episode produces a single winner from the five designs and, in the next episode, the designers will move on to another project …. in the second episode in this series they will have to design a lamp.
Obviously, the designers can anticipate and, to some extent, prepare for what they might be asked to design so an “overraskelse” or surprise is thrown in to give the programmes a slight twist. This can be site specific and can actually be a commission for a design …. in season three, the designers had to design a chair for the lobby of the youth theatre in Copenhagen that was then undergoing extensive work to remodel and extend the space.
In the sixth and final episode of this series, not only will one more winning design - this year a chair - be added to the podium but the judges will then chose an overall winner from the six works that could well become Denmark’s next classic.
bord / table
lampe / lamp
overraskelse / surprise
børnemøbel / children’s furniture
opbevaringsmøbel / storage
stol / chair
This year, 3daysofdesign - a major design event in Copenhagen - has shifted times and days.
In previous years, studios, design stores and venues opened on the Thursday, around lunchtime, with opening parties or launches for new products on the Thursday evening. Friday was a packed day and then Saturday was slower with a relatively relaxed winding down ending mid afternoon.
This year, it seems more focused because events start on Wednesday morning and run through three complete working days .... so Wednesday 15th June, Thursday the 16th and through to Friday 17 June.
In the past, 3daysofdesign was part serious design event - an open house for visiting buyers and professionals - and part a local celebration for people in the city, who work in the design industry, to show off proudly what they have done recently or reveal what is in the pipe line but it was also a chance to see friends and colleagues. People could meet and socialise and I hope that survives.
The official web site for 3daysofdesign is fantastic and it’s absolutely essential if you want to see as much as possible.
This is a design event for and by designers so it should not be surprising that a lot of effort and thought has gone into the web page and the app but they have deceptively simple graphics for what is a very sophisticated guide that has good photographs and a lot of information .... not just addresses and times, but good pen portraits so anyone can track down new companies or just refresh their memory on the hardy perennials. There are also short Journal entries with some interesting interviews.
On the site, Programme is where you start if you want to organise your time around openings or talks or even - just possibly - to find when and where wine and food will be available.
A section headed Search the Exhibitions is the what-is-where section and, even if you think you know which company is where, remember that companies do splash out on some adventurous one-off venues and smaller companies - particularly if they do not have a base here in the city - will open a pop-up shop or will camp out in a design hotel or an embassy.
This year there are 214 sites ... so you can see that - to have any hope of getting around what you want to see - you have to plan your route or your route march with some care .... even if it is only to be in the right place for the right food or the right booze. Your excuse, in that case, is that good design and good food are close cousins that bring out the best in each other.
The entry in Exhibitions will open up a pen portrait of the designer or the design company along with photographs and links to company sites and Instagram pages and so on .... a great way to get the right background information before trying to chat to a designer or the CEO.
There is a useful section on the site where you can Explore the Districts.
Copenhagen may seem compact - if you compare the city with New York or London or Milan - but remember tourists have suddenly been let loose here so, at the very least, plan your route so you only cut across Strøget and not walk along it.
The online design magazine dezeen have posted the latest in their series of talks with designers and design companies.
Marcus Fairs, editor-in-chief of dezeen, talks with Thomas Graversen, owner of the Danish design company Fredericia, and Anders Byriel, CEO of the Danish textile brand Kvadrat, about the work of the Danish designer Nanna Ditzel.
Both knew Nanna Ditzel, and their companies worked with her, so the talk reveals much about her work and her approach to design and the talk helps to establish more firmly her position in Danish design in the second half of the 20th century.
The dezeen talk about the work of Nanna Ditzel was produced in collaboration with Fredericia.
Høj barnestol / child’s high chair by Nanna Ditzel September 2020
Trinidadstol / Trinidad Chair by Nanna Ditzel August 2018
This year, the Danish furniture and design company Fritz Hansen mark a major anniversary having been in business now for 150 years ... the cabinet maker Fritz Hansen established the company in October 1872.
For nearly a century, their workshops were in the city, in a courtyard at 10 Overgaden Oven Vandet, just inside the old embankments of the defences at the south end of Christianshavn.
As the company expanded they opened a saw mill in Allerød in the 1890s and then, in 1914, expanded the workshops in Christianshavn, across the lane to the south, to a group of buildings in the block bounded by Store Søndervoldstræde - the narrow lane - and by Dronningensgade and Lille Søndervoldstræde.
Christian E Hansen, the son of the founder, became a director of the company in 1899 and not only began the first collaborations with leading architects to design major pieces but also won significant and influential contracts for Fritz Hansen including commissions to make chairs for what was then the newly-completed City Hall and chairs for the Danish Parliament building.
By 1965 the sawmill, and the factory and administration there, had expanded and the whole company moved out to Allerød.
From 2000 - the company was known as The Republic of Fritz Hansen but since 2019, under Josef Kaiser - their new CEO - they have returned to the simple and straightforward name of the founder.
Fritz Hansen produces new designs by established designers like Kasper Salto and Cecilie Manz and new young designers - including, for instance, the light by Isabel Ahm and Signe Lund and the Stub Table by Mette Schelde but they are also justifiably proud of an amazing back catalogue.
They made many of the great designs from the classic period of Danish design from the middle decades of the last century including the DAN Chair by Søren Hansen from 1932; the dining chair from the Bellevue restaurant at Klampenborg by Arne Jacobsen from 1934 and, of course, the renowned chairs by Jacobsen from the 1950s including the Ant Chair from 1952; 7'eren or Chair 7 and the chairs for the SAS hotel including The Swan and The Egg.
Fritz Hansen himself was a cabinetmaker but from the 1930s Fritz Hansen began to make steel-framed furniture, experimenting with their own versions of Bauhaus cantilevered chairs and then produced the Cantilevered Chair by Mogens Lassen in 1933.
They bought the rights to and they still produce steel-framed chairs designed by Poul Kjærholm including the PK 11, the PK 22, the PK 24 recliner - possibly the most elegant Danish chair ever produced - and the iconic PK 25 and the PK 62.
That's an astounding back catalogue of classic Danish designs.
Fritz Hansen
to mark the anniversary, Fritz Hansen
have published their time line
København Stadsarkiv 52050
Tonight was the first programme in the new season of Danmarks næste klassiker / Denmark's next classic on the television channel DR.
As in the two previous seasons, the television presenter is Mette Bluhme Rieck and, as in the programmes last year, the judges are the Danish designers Louise Campbell and Kasper Salto.
For this new season, the designers taking part are Mathias Falkenstrøm, Martin Egede Colberg, Eva Fly, Mette Benzen and Anders Engholm.
The format is the same as before with six programmes and all the designers presented with the challenge to design and produce a specific piece of furniture for each programme.
So, for this programme, all five were designing and making a sofa. Next week the challenge will be to design a skammel or stool and then in the following programmes a lænestol (arm chair), a lampe (light) and a Hjemmekontor or home office.
Each week a winner is chosen and the piece fills a waiting place on a plinth at the end of the workshop. In the final programme, not only is the sixth piece of furniture chosen but then the judges select the one piece of the six that is the overall winner and, potentially, Denmark's next classic.
There are a fairly obvious and finite number of furniture types - chair, table, bed, desk and so on - and the designers, see the vacant plinths from the start and can begin to think about and, to some extent, prepare for the challenges ahead so, this year, there is a slight twist with one of the six vacant plinths simply labelled as "overraskelse" or surprise.
The home office, to be designed in an upcoming programme, is very much a new feature for homes in our age of Coronavirus, with so many people trying to work from home, and even the sofas, designed in this first programme, had to have "an extra twist" and had to be for "small living" to reflect the fact that whereas, in the past, a sofa could be a statement piece in a large apartment, the reality now is that homes in Denmark are smaller. So, the programme is showing that it does have it's finger on the pulse of social changes because it is not just fashion but changes in the way we live that determines what furniture we need now.
Fortunately, the programme has retained the section, towards the end and just before the final judging, when members of the public are shown the finished pieces and explore and test the furniture and they are certainly not shy about expressing their opinions. The judges and the designers, in another room, can only watch on a TV monitor so the comments and the amusement or bemusement of the designers and their facial expressions, as they hear the views and the criticisms, can be priceless.
What makes the programme so important is that it shows the design process and shows how designs evolve and develop and how they reflect the specific materials chosen and are, to a considerable extent, controlled by the limitations of the technical problems of making the piece.
This first programme in the series has set a very high standard that I hope they can maintain because the five sofas could hardly have been more different and yet, for different reasons and for their distinct qualities, any one of the five would have been a worthy winner.
Ukurant was founded by Kamma Rosa Schytte, Josefine Krabbe Munck, Kasper Kyster and Lærke Ryom.
Following an open invitation, and with more than 200 applicants, the works of 17 designers and artists were selected for this exhibition.
These works explore the overlaps between design and art and form and material with a strong emphasis on colour and texture.
The exhibition was design by Frederik Gustav and has been supported by the Danish design company Muuto.
Ukurant Perspectives, at Amaliegade 38
Perspectives was part of 3daysofdesign
but remains open every day through to Sunday 26 September
note:
Det Classenske Bibliotek in Frederiksstaden was built in the 1790s to house books collected by the industrialist and landowner Johan Frederik Classen.
An exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of Sinusline, Model 172 - one of the most popular lamps produced by the Danish lighting company LE KLINT. It was designed by Poul Christiansen and was launched in 1971.
The exhibition includes a number of the folded paper lamps and elegant and complex geometric forms with sharp folded lines in paper that are fascinating, small-scale sculptures.
LE KLINT was established in 1943 and Poul Christiansen has been working with the company for more than fifty years.
LE KLINT
A Petersen, Kløvermarksvej 70A
15 September - 24 October 2021
3daysofdesign - the annual design festival in Copenhagen - is a good time for galleries and museums in the city to open new exhibitions.
The major exhibition in the city this year - NÅLEN I HØSTAKKEN / THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK - opened today at Dansk Architektur Center and shows the work of the Danish designer Cecilie Manz.
In part, the exhibition celebrates the award to Cecilie Manz of the Nationalbankens Jubilæumsfunds Hæderspris and explores her design process by looking at a number of major projects and at "the trajectory from intuition to the finished work."
This is the most elegant and certainly one of the most sophisticated and carefully presented exhibitions that I have seen in the city. Initial models, intermediate prototypes and finished designs are set out on fine, pale grey fabric and these surfaces also act as screens for sequences of images of working drawings from the design studio that are projected down in white outline to show the rational, step by step evolution of a design and the precise and detailed work that is required for each stage to realise the design, and particularly all the modifications required for industrial production and when, for example in ceramic wares for the table, a range of pieces is produced in different sizes.
There are five main sections to the exhibition, starting with the stages for the design of the WORKSHOP CHAIR and then a major project to design an extensive collection of porcelain dinnerware for ARITA JAPAN.
The third section, called FREEWHEELING, includes a wide range of furniture and household fittings designed by Manz and the fourth area, under the title DETAILING, has the subheading Purpose, Meticulousness, Dedication and includes glassware and the Beolit speaker from Bang & Olufsen.
The final section of the exhibition is called simply OBJECTS and is a fascinating and revealing collection of things, acquired by the designer over many years. These eclectic objects have inspired a design; triggered an idea; simply been a starting point for a design or suggested a shape or set a tone for the style of a finished product.
Cecilie Manz - NÅLEN I HØSTAKKEN / THE NEEDLE IN THE HAYSTACK
Dansk Architektur Center, Bryghuspladsen 10, København
16 September 2021 - 9 January 2022
One of the first events of 3daysofdesign was this evening when Marcus Fairs - the founder and editor of the online design site DEZEEN -interviewed Niels Strøyer Christophersen of Frama.
The interview was live streamed at 5pm
After a short introduction to Frama the interview goes on to look at the philosophy behind this small but important design studio that was established in 2011 and then discussed the release of a new book from Frama - PERCEPTION FORM.
Frama produce distinct furniture and objects for the home including lighting, glassware and ceramics, and they have one of the most stylish ‘eateries’ in the city. Their work has a distinct and coherent design aesthetic where they explore form and re examine function but, above all, their designs, although not minimalist as such, keep the working and manipulation of the material to a minimum to retain and show inherent qualities.
Niels talks here about holistic experiences and about welcoming space and about trying to recapture some of the curiosity and imagination of a child collecting found objects that are then imbued with specific and very personal value. He confesses to being a hoarder … but it is clearly not of objects of high cost but objects where their shape and form or colour and texture fit within what appears, initially, to be his spartan or almost monastic sense of style.
Frama makes an exceptionally valuable contribution to our debate about what we own and what we want and what we need in our day to day life.
Apotek 57 at Frama
Frama Permanent Collection
FRAMA
Fredericiagade 57,
1310 Copenhagen
A third of food produced in the World is wasted and, to compound the problem, that waste is responsible for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions.
These posters were launched on World Environment Day to make people more aware of the problem and are from a group of European illustrators and designers .
They have been printed in limited editions and can be purchased on line. The price covers printing, handling, packaging and delivery with the remainder going to the UN World Food Programme.
the exhibition continues on Bryghuspladsen until 27 June 2021
Slangestolen was designed by Poul Henningsen in 1932 and is one of the most remarkable chairs produced in Denmark in the 20th century.
It is relatively unusual in having a tubular steel frame. Several designers in the pre-war period produced chromed metal furniture that was in part inspired by designs from the Bauhaus in Germany but the Danish domestic market has always preferred wooden furniture rather than furniture with metal frames that can appear to be overtly industrial.
What makes the design of the Snake Chair remarkable is the sinuous curve of a single length of metal tube that requires not only an incredible understanding of 3D form and space on the part of the designer but also considerable technical skill in bending the metal in a smooth curve through such a complex shape … there is an almost-complete circle set horizontally for a base and then a sweep up to a second, almost-complete circle, for the seat and then on up to a loop in the vertical plane for the back rest.
The frames of the chairs are now made in Switzerland and the precise technique for bending the steel tube is a carefully-guarded secret.
I am very grateful to Søren Vincents Svendsen, the founder and CEO of PH Furniture, and to his staff who generously gave me time and space to photograph in the store in Bredgade.
Photographs in the entry on the chair in Danish Chairs 1900-1999 have been updated.
PH Furniture, Bredgade 6,
1260 Copenhagen
With restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the Mindcraft Project for 2021 is presented on line.
There are ten pioneering works:
300kg Beauty Bath, by Frederik Nystrup-Larsen & Oliver Sundqvist
Suspense, by Kasper Kjeldgaard
In-tangibles, by Stine Mikkelsen
Bench 01 and Bedside Tables, by Bahraini-Danish
Ctenophora Vase, Echinoidea Bowl, Morning Dip Side Table, by 91-92
Textile Veneer, by Else-Rikke Bruun
Ebano, by Rasmus Fenmann
Architectural Glass Fantasies, by Stine Bidstrup
Chair 02, by Archival Studies
Ombre Light, by Mette Schelde
On the site there is an introduction to Mindcraft and the ‘exhibition’ and then information about each of the works with dimensions and the materials used but the key feature is a short video for each work where the designers and artists talk about the concept and the design process and about the techniques used to produce the finished work.
One characteristic that unites these amazing works is their restraint.
From 2008 through to 2013, the annual Mindcraft exhibitions were organised by Danish Crafts and from 2014 to 2018 by Danish Arts Foundation.
The first Mindcraft Project from Copenhagen Design Agency was in 2020.
Mindcraft Project 2021
Concept & Exhibition, Copenhagen Design Agency
Website by Ruby Studio
An exhibition of furniture with tables and chairs by young cabinetmakers from Snedkernes Uddannelser and with lighting by students from the glass school of EUC Nordvestsjælland in Holbæk.
All the designs were inspired by traditional fairy tales.
The title of the exhibition - Bord dæk dig or Table Set Yourself - is from a story by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm about three brothers who are sent off to make their fortunes as apprentices and about the gifts they are given by their masters when they finish their training …. so more than appropriate for the theme for an exhibition by young furniture makers.
In the tale, one of the young apprentices is given a table by his master that, on command, sets or lays itself with a magic feast. The table was carried on the back of the apprentice so the table here is on a version of trestles and the top is made from many layers of veneer that must symbolise potential new layers as the table 'sets itself'.
The inspiration for the other tables were four tales from Hans Christian Andersen …...
Thumbelina was a girl who was so small that she was carried off by a toad and captured by a beetle but escaped on the back of a swallow and that tale inspired a table shaped like a beetle that is supported on insect-like legs and with chairs like giant insect or butterfly wings.
The Top and the Ball, also by Hans Christian Andersen, is a tale of love and loss and rejection and the complicated inlay of the top reflects the pattern of a satin ball that became lost and faded.
The Little Match Girl was caught out in a snow storm, and struck three of her matches for light and warmth and this has inspired the brilliant legs of the small tables with tops like match boxes with three of the four legs like used and burnt matches and the fourth match unused.
Klods-Hans …. Hans the Blockhead - seems to me to be a rather more obscure story that is less easy to interpret. it is the tale of three brothers, two of whom are sent off on horseback by their father to win the hand of the princess with fine wit and fine words and the blockhead son follows behind on a goat and collects on the way a dead bird and rank rubbish as gifts for the princess. The chairs are inspired by the goat but the table with its staggered ends and sliding extension leaves? …. is this the crenellations of the royal castle?
This is an exhibition about the imagination of the designers whose inventions are realised by cabinetmakers with the technical skills required to produce furniture of this quality.
Photographs for the catalogue were taken at the fairy-tale castle of Jægerspris Slot on Sjælland.
note:
I think that Skud på stammen can be translated as shoot or bud on the stem or tree trunk. It’s like the English phrase about mighty oaks that from little acorns grow but implies new growth or the new branch on the tree rather than a completely new tree so the relationship between the apprentice and the master.
Design Werck as a venue for the exhibition was planned for the Spring but it had to be postponed because of the lockdown.
Actually, it is a great show for this time of year, in the build up to Christmas, in part because of the fairy tale theme but also because the Christmas season is when, for Danes, the dining table and food becomes such an important part of celebrations with friends and family.
more photographs of the furniture and lights
the exhibition opened on 6 November 2020
at Design Werck, Krudløbsvej 12, 1439 København
Design Werck
NEXT Uddannelse
note: Design Werck does not open on Mondays or Tuesdays
3daysofdesign is a major event in the calendar for designers and design companies in Copenhagen. It is when people open their doors to visitors, fellow professionals in the design business and to colleagues and friends in the city. It is the best time to see the design community of Copenhagen at home and at their very best.
Normally, events are held over a Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the late spring/early summer but the pandemic has disrupted so much and, for this year, 2020, 3daysofdesign will be on 3rd, 4th and 5th of September.
The theme is Eco Conscious Concepts and graphics for 3 days are by the artist Alfredo Häberli who is based in Zurich.
In normal times, some events need either registration or booked tickets but this year, because of the exceptional circumstances, events will be open and free …. many using the streets and squares of the city.
On 11th June winners were announced for the important annual Danish Design Awards.
Normally there would be a major ceremony and celebration at the building of DI (Danske Industrie) on Rådhuspladsen - the city hall square - but the event was cancelled - another victim of the Coronavirus lockdown.
However, information about contenders in each category of the awards and winners can be seen on line.
Many will associate Danish design with furniture and architecture and with the design of interiors but this award shows just how widely the theories and practice and skills of good design are applied across manufacturing, education and broader planning and the organisation of everyday life in Denmark including health provision and services.
The awards are made across 16 categories and it is worth looking at the web site to look at the work of all the finalists. Many of the categories were closely contested but, above all, this shows how good design has a major impact on so many aspects of Danish life.
BETTER LEARNING – Lego Education Spike Prime
BETTER WORK – Hegenberger Speculum
FEEL GOOD, FURNITURE – Soft Lounge Chair
FEEL GOOD, PRODUCT – MK1 – E
GAME CHANGER – E-Ferry
HEALTHY LIFE – Empelvic
LIVEABLE CITIES – P-Hus og Fitness Roof Lüders
MESSAGE UNDERSTOOD – 360 VR Safari
OUTSTANDING SERVICE – Differentiated Mediation Services
SAVE RESOURCES – SolarSack
ICON AWARD – Novo Nordisk Insulin Pens
EMPLOYMENT GROWTH – Too Good To Go
YOUNG TALENT – Julia Sand og Ditte Marie Fog
VISIONARY CONCEPTS – Poosition
PEOPLE’S CHOICE – 360 VR Safari
Danish Design Award
Danish Design Award 2020 - Finalists and Winners
explore copenhagen design news by category …..
.... and longer articles about architecture and design are posted on danish design review
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