Finders Keepers

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This weekend there was a Finders Keepers event here in Copenhagen.

It was the usual mix of design, clothing and food and the usual and good mix of small independent companies … this is entrepreneurial Danish design at its best … but it was a rather different set up this time.

Normally there is a single venue - so somewhere like the Locomotive Works or the old Tap1 out at Carlsberg - but this weekend they took over two streets in Nordhavn with the design and the clothing companies inside - in what will soon be fitted out as retail or office space along Århusgade - and food stalls down the narrower side street of Travemündegade that runs back from Århusgade.

There was not much space for chairs for sitting down to eat but the odd bonus was that the smell of cooking and grills and barbecuing - trapped by the buildings - was absolutely incredible although I wonder what the people who have just moved into these apartments thought about it all.

Finders Keepers

 

Kunsthåndværkermarked

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Not in the normal location on the large square across the north side of Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen - because of excavation works there - but for this year on the other side of the church.

This is an opportunity to see - and to buy - some of the very best of Danish craft. And the weather seems to have improved just in time.

Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere

Thursday, Friday and Saturday 10-12 August

 
 

Design X Change

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… a design market held in the courtyard of Designmuseum Danmark on Saturday and Sunday 20th and 21st May. 

The focus is on design and sustainability with talks and demonstrations on reusing materials and encouraging people to repair rather than discard things that have broken. There are displays and demonstrations to encourage new strategies for sustainability through design … so that includes how we, as a society have to tackle the rapidly increasing demand for materials by reconsidering our priorities or coming up with solutions that do not, in themselves, accelerate the depletion of limited resources … so there is a display for a student project that explores the possibilities for a service where students, arriving in the city to study, can lease reasonable furniture which they can take with them from one rented apartment to the next and then either upgrade or return as an alternative to buying cheap furniture that is then discarded and there is a project by students from Aalborg University Copenhagen who for a project looked at the specific problem of how to deal with needles discarded into drains by drug users in some areas of the city.

Although there is a growing awareness of the need for us to behave more responsibly as consumers, designers who want to focus on sustainability have a new task … not only do they have to come up with the design solutions but in that process they have to educate and explain to consumers why sustainability is important and how and why these problems should and can be tackled. 

Alongside the displays and stalls there will be demonstrations outside on quilting, a talk on recycling cookware and workshops on repairing toys.

IKEA pops up on the walking street

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IKEA have opened a pop-up store on Strøget - the famous walking street in Copenhagen. They have a coffee stall, a good flower stall and even a DJ and you can see a selection of furniture and light fittings from the Swedish company. 

The store space is between tenants and has oddly exposed concrete walls and the remains of lighting and so on from the previous company where most fittings have been stripped out but actually the groups of IKEA chairs and tables look remarkably good … much better than in the IKEA store. The place was certainly crowded with a lot of curious people so it had a real hum and the lesson seems to be that piling it high and really doing little more than putting storage on display is not necessarily the best way to show furniture … that is absolutely fine when people know what they want and are just in a store to pick up and purchase what they need but not so good if you are looking for a bit of inspiration but actually not good at encouraging you to buy what you didn’t even know you wanted.

IKEA, Østergade 36 (Strøget or The Walking Street) … open until 2nd April

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Christmas Fair at Designmuseum Danmark

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The Christmas  Fair at Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen is over two weekends - the 2nd to the 4th and the 9th to the 11th of December 2016. There is a large marquee in the garden courtyard with traditional food and drink - gløgg - from Klint Café. Organised with the Danish Crafts and Design Association, the fair has a wide selection of work by some of the best designers and makers. 

Designmuseum Danmark, Bredgade, Copenhagen

 

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

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