normann copenhagen - discovering spaces

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Discovering Spaces has been the most recent exhibition or reorganisation at Normann Copenhagen. 

In the long steel-lined entrance hall is a display of their chairs in some of the many possible configurations that can be chosen and then the large main ground-floor space beyond is now divided by tall blocks in strong colours and lengths of clear ‘butchers’ curtains that create a series of tightly-linked spaces and provide drama for the arrangement of their furniture and the clothing that is sold in the store.

The far high end wall of the space is now boldly striped in dark colours and lengths of carpet that continue down and across the floor.

Velvet-covered pouffs in the lower very pink gallery space are set in groups across the floor and across the ceiling and fixed to the walls … probably not an idea to try at home but actually what the display in the store does show is that blocking diagonal views, changing lighting from one space to another and breaking up space all add drama. Is this designers suggesting a move away from the New York loft look of large expanses of floor in concrete or wide boards … preferably distressed.

Maybe it’s because the Normann show room is in what was an old cinema or maybe it was the dramatic relaunch of the space last year but the glamour does seem to suggest that the inspiration might be less International Modern and more Art Deco.   

normann copenhagen

 

Finnish design day at Design Werck

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Ulla Koskinen, Johanna Vurio and Mads Arlien-Søborg lead the discussion

On the 2nd June there was a major event where the companies and designers from Finland who have been showing in the gallery were at Design Werck to talk about their designs and about the work produced by their companies.

There was a good general discussion about Nordic design that was led by Mads Arlien-Søborg - the design expert from DR TV in Copenhagen - with Johanna Vurio, CEO of the furniture company Nikari Oy, and Ulla Koskinen, editor for the design magazine ASUN - I Live.

People introduced themselves and talked briefly about the work produced by their companies and the strong common theme that emerged was that each had a distinct and unique and interesting story to tell about how their companies had been established but, and much more important, what came across in simply through talking about this, was their passion and commitment to good design.

This should not be surprising but it was obvious, as so often, that it is this background story that is not just a 'unique selling point' but is the best way to help potential customers understand the product … the way for the designer or manufacture to get across, in an interesting way, why the design is important and can be half the battle to justify the price - important in a competitive market - and is also the best starting point to explain the merits of the work … to explain how a piece works or explain why one material rather than another was chosen or why something was made in a specific way.

Of course a customer can be overloaded with information but equally many of the important factors about a product might not be immediately obvious when it is seen in a crowded shop display. It is important to get the balance right and important to include at least some of this back story on packaging.

The discussion moved on to the idea of marketing Scandinavian design generally as a way of pooling resources but also as a way of strengthening the image of the region for it's design.

The well-attended discussion session was followed by food from Finland and that was a fantastic opportunity to chat with the designers from Finland and with the teams from the different companies.

Design Werck, Krudløbsvej 12, Copenhagen 

 

By Lassen for 3daysofdesign

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Mogens Lassen in his studio

 

The brothers Mogens and Flemming Lassen were born at the beginning of the 20th century. They were contemporaries and friends of Arne Jacobsen - the three were at school together - and all three went on to be architects and furniture designers becoming well-established by the early 1930s. Flemming Lassen and Jacobsen worked together to design Søllerød Town Hall and its furniture and fittings completed in 1942.

The company By Lassen was formed by younger generations of the family to continue the production of designs by Mogens and Flemming Lassen. 

For 3daysofdesign their store in Holbersgade in Copenhagen had special displays for visitors with the main level just up from the street laid out as an apartment furnished with designs from the collection and at the lower level - a few steps down from the street - Mogens Lassen’s work room and desk had been recreated with historic photographs, original possessions and early and trial versions of production pieces that are still owned by the family.

There were also architectural drawings and historic photographs of buildings designed by the Lassens - again from the family collection of archive material.

By Lassen, Holbergsgade 20, Copenhagen

desk and work space of Mogens Lassen recreated in the store with artifacts and archive drawings and historic photographs owned by the family

 

the work desk with a prototype of the Kubus candle holder designed by Mogens Lassen in 1962

 

Chair ML33 by Mogens Lassen

My Own Chair designed by Flemming Lassen

 

Stool ML42 from By Lassen

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As one of the activities arranged at By Lassen for 3daysofdesign, Søren Lassen - the grandson of Mogens Lassen - talked about the famous ML42 three-legged wooden stool that was designed in 1942 and still produced by the company.

Visitors to the store were told about the construction of the distinctive and boldly-shaped seat and how that is finished and were then shown how the legs are fixed to the seat and how the shoulder of the housing and the top of the leg are sanded and smoothed before the oak is then treated or finished with oil.

 

Fredericia

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Barbry Stool by Aurelien Barbry

 

The Danish furniture company Fredericia have moved from Frederiksborggade in Copenhagen to an extensive and impressive new space in Løvstræde where they are on the upper floors of the recently restored old post office building. There are large, well-lit spaces for displaying the furniture and, from the upper level, amazing views over the roof scape of the old city.

read more

 

a sofa by Finn Juhl .....

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In 1999 Ivan Hansen and Henrik Sørensen were approached by Hanne Wilhelm Hansen, the widow of Finn Juhl, to produce a single issue of the 57 sofa to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of the designer. The success of that collaboration was the beginning of a strong and enduring working relationship and OneCollection has now relaunched over forty designs by Juhl.

House of Finn Juhl

 
 

46 sofa 1946 - relaunched 2008

57 sofa 1951 - relaunched 2009

Baker sofa 1951 - relaunched 2009

Japan sofa 1953 - relaunched 2007

 

Really at Kvadrat

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Sometimes you come across a design or a product that had not been on the radar - but it stops you in your tracks. It's like driving along a road and suddenly there is an amazing view and you can’t help yourself and just go wow.

Well it was a bit like that on seeing Really at Kvadrat at Klubiensvej in Nordhavn on Thursday.

In part, this was because I had seen nothing on the internet about Really so, for once, this was the impact of something that appeared to be very new and came out of the blue ........ or maybe it just shows that I’m not going through the design magazines with enough care or attention because Really was shown in Milan.

Probably the best way to start is to quote the introduction in a catalogue from Really:

“Responding to the urgent global issue of waste, Really upcycles textiles to create materials that challenge the design and architectural industries to rethink their use of resources and to design their products with a circular economy in mind.”

 
 

 

The result is new Acoustic Textile Felt and Solid Textile Board - a new building board. These are made from end-of-life textiles - for instance, worn-out bedding from large laundry companies - and the process does not use toxic chemicals or water or dyes. At the end of their own useful life the felt and boards can be “re-granulated” to feed the start of a new product so hence that concept of circular design.

Solid Boards come in different gauges and can be cut and put together for furniture with many of the same techniques as plywood. Thicker boards even have the same impression of layers as plywood with white cotton used for the core layer and coloured outer layers in Cotton White, Cotton Blue, Wool Slate and Wool Natural and that can be more obvious when several thinner layers are combined to form a heavier or thicker gauge of  board ... for instance for table tops. 

Boards can be cut, drilled or milled, sanded and planed, laser cut and glued. Surface treatments are also similar to the finishes for plywood with lacquer, oil or wax.

In the display at Kvadrat, a number of bold benches and tables designed by Max Lamb were shown along with a mood board collection of samples and ideas that, in a good way, reminded me of lino cutting … not the prints but the tangible qualities of the linoleum itself with all the various options you have for depth and sharpness of cut that reveal the layers down from the smooth matt surface and also because the boards themselves have some of that warmth and softness of colour that is a distinct characteristic of simple linoleum.

reallycph.com

 

Erik Jørgensen Møbelfabrik at Pakhus for 3daysofdesign

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Erik Jørgensen Møbelfabrik have offices and display space out at Pakhus 48 in Nordhavn where they are in one of the huge former warehouses along with Vola, the tap and bathroom fittings company, and with Kvadrat, the Danish textile company. Joint events here on the first evening of the three days are a very popular high point.

 
 

Not only is this a good opportunity to see the furniture from Jørgensen in the generous space and in the natural light of the warehouse but for 3daysofdesign - they had rebuilt Portal ..... an installation designed for the Milan furniture fair in the Spring by the Norwegian architects Snøhetta, working with Jørgensen.

An oak ladder covered in leather appears to be standing free between two round mirrors to create an infinite sequence of images but this is not simply a visual game because it also demonstrates the craftsmanship of fine leatherwork from Jørgensen.

 
 

 

Pakhus 48 has large windows that look south down the harbour so the space has bright natural light - particularly in the afternoon - with strong shadows and very strong patches of light across the floor and with light reflected up that comes up off the water so it can be dramatic anyway, even without mirrors and with a lot of people around for the opening and a fair bit of wine the whole thing was a bit disconcerting.

Erik Jørgensen Møbelfabrik

Snøhetta

 

 
 

MENU at Nordhavn - the new North Harbour district

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Menu - the kitchenware, home accessories and furniture company - have just opened a dedicated Menu studio. display space and a cafe in the new harbour district in Nordhavn in Copenhagen.

 

Menu, Hamborg Plads 2, Nordhavn

 
 

Hay for 3daysofdesign

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For 3daysofdesign, the design company Hay have taken over Lindencrones Palæ on Sankt Annæ Plads (Lindencrone’s Palace on Saint Anne’s Square). So going to this event was an opportunity to look around a pretty amazing building but for Hay it gave them dramatic settings for their furniture, lighting and kitchen and tableware. One large room had the Result Chair and Pyramid Table … maybe a first for a display designer or stylist to have so much space that they could stack so many tables so high.

Just in terms of general design principles, the show highlighted again an important aspect of Danish interiors … that in many Danish homes furniture and fittings of very different periods and styles are deliberately mixed together … so starkly modern lighting or steel and glass furniture in an old apartment that has panelling or ornate plasterwork and sash windows - though perhaps not often on the scale of this Palæ. 

Or in a starkly modern home you will find either a carefully-chosen chair from the classic period of Danish design in the 1950s and 60s or old and much-loved pieces of furniture that have been inherited.

One general but simple lesson here in the Hay display was that choosing tableware and so on carefully and then using multiples but leaving it all out as open storage on display can look pretty good.

For Hay, the building also provided an impressive setting for showing off, with pride, their latest products and for welcoming and entertaining visitors who could sit in the calm and quiet of an old entrance passage used as a temporary cafe or people could have a coffee out in the sun of the courtyard that has been fitted out with Hay’s Palissade furniture. 

Hay

 

Liquid Life - Biennalen for Kunsthåndværk & Design 2017

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This is the last two days of the Biennalen ... an exhibition of some of the very best of Danish craft work.

What is astounding here are those very qualities that are not normally associated with Danish design … or at least not with common preconceptions about Danish design from the late 20th century. So here there is strong, bold use of colour and texture and the exploration of ideas that challenge perceptions and preconceptions. 

The theme Liquid Life - about how precarious modern life can feel - is from a text by Zygmunt Baumann and taken from his book Liquid Life that was published in 2005.

“Liquid life is the kind of life commonly lived in our contemporary, liquid-modern society ... The most acute and stubborn worries that haunt this liquid life are the fears of being caught napping, of failing to catch up with fast moving events, of overlooking the ‘use by’ dates and being saddled with worthless possessions, of missing the moment calling for a change of tack and being left behind.”

With an amazing diversity of both materials and techniques - with works in ceramic and glass, with textiles, jewellery, furniture, book binding, fashion and photography - and with many of the artists combining several materials and in some works several specialist skills - these works are the response that these observations by Zygmunt Bauman inspired in thirty seven artists, designers and makers ........... a response and an antidote.

 

Liquid Life - Biennalen for Kunsthåndværk & Design 2017

Museumsbygningen, Kastelsvej 18, Copenhagen until 27 May 2017

 

 
 
 

note: select an image by clicking on it and that will take you into the gallery where the title of the work and the name(s) of the artist(s) can be found

more photographs

Pitch Black - the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition

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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

 

Black Hole, Örnduvald

Disguised as a chair, Nils-Ole-Zib

Syrsa, Mia Lagerman

 

the exhibition Pitch Black continues at the
Lapidarium of Kings, Christian IV’s Brewhouse, Copenhagen
until 30th October 2016