Flexible Standard, Carlo Volf - Copenhagen Technical College

An astounding exhibition that highlights the huge skill and the boundless and seemingly immeasurable inventiveness of Danish furniture makers and designers. Except of course highlighting is not exactly the appropriate word here as the theme of the exhibition this year is the black line on paper - the draft - and the full title of the exhibition is Pitch Black - shadows and transparency.

Norm Architects have been responsible, as they were last year, for the overall design and arrangement of the exhibition, but have moved away from the mirror glass and complex reflected light of Øregård, last year’s venue, and created a dramatic setting of shadows and mystery: the works are shown over the two main floors of the 17th-century brewhouse building with windows covered to exclude all natural light and the massive posts and beams of the structure and the huge sculptures that are permanently here are sunk in gloom. The shadows appear palpable and become a significant part of the display.

The forty-eight designs cover an amazing range of styles and explore the potential of many very different materials, from leather to Corian, but above all it is the form and shape of pieces and how they occupy space that is explored most strongly. Perhaps the only problem is that it is difficult to appreciate fully the quality of the craftsmanship and the novelty and imagination used in the diverse techniques of joining, overlapping, finishing and forming the pieces.

photographs of all the furniture