tonight was the opening of the remodelled design store of Normann Copenhagen

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An old cinema in Østerbro has been the headquarters of Normann Copenhagen for over a decade and was a pretty amazing place anyway with a long entrance corridor that cut through the street range to give access to the large high space of the cinema that appears to have been built in what was once a courtyard.

But now the space has been drastically and dramatically remodelled with extensive use of large mirrors, banks of fluorescent lighting, new grey marble counters, marble steps down to the lower level and pink walls and ceilings. A lot of pink. From a soft plaster pink in the main space to a strawberry-ice pink in the basement display area with the staircase down to the basement now carpeted in, you've guessed it, pink and the staircase has been covered over and lined with reflecting metal. It’s all sort of Holywood glamour … or in the words of Normann themselves, on their posters, ‘PINK PERMEATION', ‘BALLROOM BLISS’ and ‘FLUORESCENT FUTURE’.

Normann Copenhagen

the house of Poul Henningsen

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The house designed by Poul Henningsen for himself and his family in Gentofte, a suburb of Copenhagen, and completed in 1937 was purchased by Realdania By & Byg in 2014. 

After an extensive programme of restoration work, returning the house to its original appearance, it will be leased but just for this week the public has been allowed access. 

It will be open on Saturday and Sunday the 17th and 18th September from 13:00 to 17:00.

Brogårdsvej 72, 2820 Gentofte

 

 

new Fritz Hansen design store

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Fritz Hansen have just completed work on a major project in the centre of the city and have opened a new show room in an historic town house as part of the redevelopment of former post office buildings.

Republic of Fritz Hansen Valkendorfsgade 4, 1115 Copenhagen K

The company had offices and display space at Pakhus48 in the north harbour but this will be the first time that Fritz Hansen have themselves had a retail space in the city.

Fritz Hansen has concept stores in Oslo, Stockholm, London, Milan New York and Tokyo.

Designer Space - first day

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This is a smaller venue than for FindersKeepers but Designer Space has a similar mix of designers and makers with furniture, ceramics and paintings and prints and there is a similar crowd ... maybe not quite as young and carefully fashionable but lots of young couples and young families and kids … Danes start taking an interest in this sort of thing at a frighteningly early age.

The building is fascinating as well - a good example of industrial archaeology now with a new role - the Old Pumping Station is south and west of the main railway station in Copenhagen, at the south-west corner of the Meatpacking District and just down the tracks from Dybbølsbro Station … in fact the rail tracks pass on either side of the building.

There are stalls inside the main hall and outside in the yards at either end of the buildings and of course there are stalls for food and drink.

Designer Space continues tomorrow Sunday 4th September

Illums Bolighus ... 75th anniversary

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The 1st September marks the 75th anniversary for Illums Bolighus, the design and furniture store in the centre of Copenhagen. The celebrations will include special events with competitions; displays in the store and special window displays; an anniversary newspaper and the launch of special products.

Illums Bolighus, Amagertorv 10, Copenhagen K

Bredgade Open

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Bredgade in Copenhagen is the main street that runs out from the large public square of Kongens Nytorv to Esplanaden and Kastellet beyond and is the spine of the 18th-century part of the city. 

It is lined with palaces, grand apartments and major institutional buildings and museums including, at the far end, the Design Museum.

Here there are some of the long-established art and antique dealers and auction houses in the city and main display spaces of Danish design companies including Carl Hansen, Rud. Rasmussen and Montana.

The street will celebrate with an open evening on Friday 19th August when there will be special displays and refreshments, including street food. It is a great opportunity to meet and talk to professionals from design and art in the city.

Bredgade Open

Friday 19th August 2016 15.00 - 20.00

Kunsthåndværker Markedet

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Kunsthåndvæker Markedet - the annual craft fair on Frue Plads in Copenhagen - will open on the 11th August and continue on the 12th and 13th. 

Frue Plads is the square across the north side of Vor Frue Kirke in the centre of Copenhagen.

Organised by the association for crafts - K&D or Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere - there will be more than 130 stalls at the market. The list of major designers and makers from across Denmark who are showing their work is strong for ceramics and glass and jewellery but there will also be work by basket makers, textile designers and graphic artists.

This is an amazing opportunity to see and to buy some of the very best craft work from Danish designers and makers.

Kunsthåndvæker Markedet, Frue Plads, Copenhagen

Thursday 11 August 12.00 -19.00
Friday 12th August 10.00 - 19.00
Saturday 13th August 10.00 - 16-00

a change of view

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I’ve moved. I’ve crossed the water from one side of the harbour in Copenhagen to the other.

And, much to the amusement of the boatmen, quite a bit of the move was done using the harbour ferry to carry paint and lights and bags of tools backwards and forwards because both the old apartment and the new place are within a block of landing stages of the ‘harbour bus’.

Although it’s not easy to balance an aluminium stepladder in one hand and a bucket of mops and brushes in the other while trying to hold a travel card against the card reader to check in and check out, it was certainly easier than trying to carry the same things on the busy metro.

This is the view from my desk … or to be more accurate it’s the view I have if I lean back in my desk chair.

In the old place, if I looked up from cooking, I looked straight at the dome of the Marble Church and from my desk there I looked across the Kastellet so, if you know Copenhagen, pretty hard to beat but the new apartment has wide, full-height windows that look straight into the trees of the churchyard and the square is quiet with no through traffic so the hope is that there will be every inducement to sit and think, get through a stack of books that are waiting to be read and, hopefully, to write.

This is all trying to explain why there have been no posts recently but the pause has also been a chance to think about how to move forward with this blog and with the companion site Copenhagen By Design. There will be some changes over the next few months and hopefully more posts … as long as I don’t spend too much time staring out of the window and day dreaming.