shop window Mads Norgaard for 3daysofdesign

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Many of the stores around the city get involved with 3daysofdesign.

On Strøget - the great pedestrianised shopping street that runs east west through the centre of the city - the Copenhagen fashion brand Mads Norgaard, used their front shop window for "live workshops" with a tightly-packed programme of demonstrations by craftsmen making products from many of the best-known design companies and design workshops.

Here, in one of the sessions in the programme on the first day, a cabinet maker from PP Møbler was working on shaping and finishing the seat of their new three-legged Sela Stool designed by the Brazilian artist Ricardo Graham Ferreira. The stools are made in oak, ash, cherry or beech and the wave profile of the shape means that the craftsmen can bring out the character of the pattern of the grain in each block of timber.

PP Møbler

Dine, Drink, Daze & Dream - at Moltkes Palæ for 3daysofdesign

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Elephant Chair designed for NORR11 by Kristian Sofus Hansen and manufactured by Kvist Industries

 

For 3daysofdesign, Træ- og møbelindustrien or the Association of Danish Wood and Furniture Industries took over the main rooms on the street frontage of Moltkes Palæ on Bredgade in the centre of Copenhagen.

It was good to see the work of the serious side of the furniture industry with stands here representing the work of Cane-line; HUBE, Kvist Industries, Magnus Olesen, Møbelsnedkeri Kjeldtoft; PP Møbler; Skovby Møbler; Re Nature Beds; Republic of Fritz Hansen and WON. This was the crucial but, shall we say, the less hyped and primped up part of the industry.

As some of the style journalists or bloggers rush from venue to venue taking square pictures of the amazing plates of finger food and grab another glass of booze, they might do well to remember that these are the factories that make the furniture that sits under the label. That's not to say this was all about fork-lift trucks and export paperwork … it was styled by the design studio All the Way to Paris and certainly did not look like a trade show … but what was shown very clearly was exactly the same passion and enthusiasm for design and for high-quality production that is the hall mark of the Danish furniture industry as it developed through the 1950s.

NO1 - new chair from Fritz Hansen designed by Nendo

 

Fritz Hansen were here but with a simple stand that just showed the chair they have just launched - Chair NO1 by the designer Nendo. This is an interesting chair that has a beautiful and very elegant curved seat and plain curved back in laminated wood on a relatively traditional frame in turned and joined wood that, in terms of style, is a hybrid of traditional Japanese and Danish forms. This was not a display for the glamour life-style magazines but appropriately something to show to fellow manufacturers.

PP Møbler showed a desk by Wegner and an office chair - the 502 - designed by Hans Wegner. They did not need to show more … every manufacturer here would know the catalogue of PP Møbler … but again it was all about meeting fellow professionals for what is in part a social event and in part a way of entertaining established clients and a venue for making new business contacts. Even if you are only slightly interested in the workings of what is behind the branded stores this is fascinating.

PP Møbler is not a furniture factory but are still a major workshop of cabinetmakers. They have to be commercially astute to survive but, for them, a core element is  maintaining the system of training and apprenticeships … after all, the life-blood of the Danish industry.

That's not to suggest that the other companies are production-line factories and there is a fascinating symbiotic relationship between these manufacturers, the design companies they serve; established designers, working either in house or working independently; and the young designers and the young furniture makers coming up through the system.

Talking to the representative from Kvist, I was asking about the Elephant chair that they manufacture for the design company NORR11, when the team from NORR11 arrived and there was a brief opportunity to talk to Kristian Sofus Hansen who designed the chair. I hope to be able to do a longer profile on this chair which could be a place to discuss how a design evolves and to explore that crucial relationship between designer, design company and manufacturer.

 

Træ- og møbelindustrien for 3daysofdesign

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As a trade association, a crucial part of the role of Træ- og møbelindustrien covers standards for training and apprenticeships.

Three pieces of furniture were shown at Moltkes Palæ that were a final selection from the graduation works of this years apprentices … and they were contending for the major annual Apprenticeship Prize for woodwork machinists.

The winner was announced on Saturday with Peter Pagh from Bernstorffsminde Møbelfabrik awarded first prize for his upholstered chair and foot stool with Silas John Esheim from Norisol in Frederikshavn awarded second place for his TV stand and the third place was awarded to Aksel Giovanni Larsen from HTH Køkkener/Nobia for his desk.

Dux at the Swedish Embassy for 3daysofdesign

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For 3daysofdesign, first-floor rooms of the Swedish Embassy - in a grand town house on Sankt Annæ Plads - were taken over by the Swedish furniture manufacturer DUX who are perhaps best known for beds but they also for manufacture classic furniture by designers including Bruno Mathsson and Folke Olsson.

The space was styled by the well-established Swedish designer and blogger Lotta Agaton.

DUX

Lotta Agaton

 

Pernilla 69 at the Swedish Embassy

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One of the main rooms at the embassy was set out as a bedroom - a rather luxurious bedroom - with furniture from Dux with their version of the Pernille chair and foot stool that is based on a chair designed in 1944 by Bruno Mathsson but then developed with DUX as a new version in 1969 and still made by the company.

Recently, the posts on the review side of this blog have focused on Danish chair design and looked particularly at the development of plywood or laminated wood and the related techniques of laminating and steam bending so coming across this chair was a good opportunity to look carefully at the Mathsson design and to take photographs.

Here the curving of the laminated wood takes on an almost baroque exaggeration that  revels in the technique and the craftsmanship. Specifically, this chair puts paid to any suggestion that steam bending is for cheap everyday furniture or mass production and this version also shows how high-quality upholstery and the very very careful choice of fabric and colour creates the distinct style and takes the finished chair to a much higher level of luxury.

DUX

 

Nyt i bo for 3daysofdesign

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This independent furniture shop on Store Kongensgade actually shares a courtyard with Frederiksgade 1 - see below.

They sell a good and carefully-chosen range of modern furniture and rugs and lamps and so on. For 3daysofdesign they clear much of the ground-floor showroom for companies to show specific ranges or specific pieces.

This year there were two companies in particular that stood out for highlighting two very important ideas that have to be considered now if Danish design and Danish furniture production are to thrive actually in the country together … not about Danish design as a concept or as a style but Danish design and Danish manufacture thriving and moving forward together in Denmark.

Anton Assaad was there to represent the company Great Dane that he established in Melbourne in Australia in 2002. His store sells top of the range Danish furniture including cabinets by Kai Kristiansen and the large leather-covered armchair V11 by Illum Wikkelsø that are made in Denmark. The key to his business formulae seems to be identifying and appreciating major designs that are no longer in production and then, working with the families or the old companies, he gains licences to restart production to a very very high standard with quality being the paramount consideration.

 

 

At almost the opposite end of the commercial spectrum were two cabinetmakers who are together Risskov Møbelsnedkeri. They showed furniture designed and made by them but the main design for 3daysofdesign was their arm chair also designed by Kai Kristiansen in the 1960s so again a classic chair. This is a typical form of chair that was relatively common in the catalogues of several manufacturers through the 60s with a simple frame of wood with wooden arms and with simple square cushions for the seat and back. France & Son produced several variations by Ole Wanscher and Illum Wikkeslsø designed Lænestol Nr 4 in 1959 and Poul Volther designed Model 390 in 1961.

This particular design by Kai Kristiansen is very close to what we had at home when I was a kid and my parents called 'contemporary' design.

 

 

the original form for the seat with loops of wire and the new support for the seat cushion

 

The important thing here is the quality of the work and the appropriate technical changes that have been made by Risskov Møbelsnedkeri to bring the chair up to date … so the thin coated wire springs under tension that formed the support of the seat cushion in the original chairs have been replaced with taut material that does not stretch and where the original chair was shipped as a flatpack that, to some extent, compromised the strength of the frame, these chairs are completely assembled and finished in the workshop.

The materials for the upholstery is quite-rightly from Kvadrat.

nyt i bo

House of Finn Juhl at Frederiksgade 1

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3daysofdesign is when design companies and manufacturers and studios in Copenhagen open their doors to show everyone their designs and products and take that opportunity to explain the why and the how and the what of the design world in the city.

House of Finn Juhl have showrooms in Frederiksgade and they showed some of their best furniture so this was the opportunity to not only look at furniture up close but to sit on chairs or ask questions.

In one of the rooms, as the centre piece, was a Silver Table, designed by Juhl in 1948 with 30 inset discs that give the design its nickname of the Judas Table.

It was set for a grand meal but between the plates and glasses were parts of some of the classic Juhl chairs so for instance an arm of a Chair 45 or chair FJ45.

This was the first time I had seen the sections of a chair by Juhl before they had been assembled and so, of course, took photographs.

With so many things - like magic tricks or great culinary dishes - to have the trick explained often spoils the illusion. Curiously, here it was exactly the opposite.

Discussions about designs by Juhl inevitably point out a contrast between Finn Juhl and his contemporary Hans Wegner in that designs by Wegner seem to have evolved as designer and cabinetmaker resolved how to realise a design by working through what could be done and how whereas Juhl appears to have had a very clear idea of what he required and it was up to the craftsman to work out just how to make that happen.

Seeing the parts of a Juhl chair laid out did not spoil the trick … rather it was the opposite because, looking at the smooth, complex and almost organic shapes and the precision and cutting of the joins for fixing together the parts, the workmanship seemed even more amazing and it was possible to understand exactly why modern machinery for cutting and shaping wood makes the production of these chairs possible.

What I still don't understand is how a craftsman can see in a piece of timber the line of the finished piece where the grain, that reflects natural growth of an individual tree, is used to enhance the finished piece rather than being a perverse and difficult part of the natural material that can and will form a line of weakness.

House of Finn Juhl

 
 

Jasper Overgaard and Christian Dyrman at Frederiksgade 1

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L1270303.jpg
 

Jasper Overgaard and Christian Dyrman have a studio and showroom space on the fourth floor at Frederiksgade 1.

For 3daysofdesign they had a long table with a dark top down the centre of the main room with all the parts from one of their chairs set out … so there were separate slots in the top that took each of the different wires and parts of the steel frame and cut outs for all the pieces of leather for the seat and back and all the straps and rivets that go to make up a finished chair.

 

 

Most people, if they think about the design process, will assume that to design furniture then all that is needed is a nice sketch, maybe with colour wash or probably an impressive CAD drawing in 3D with rendering and then maybe a swatch or two of colours or materials … and that's it.

In reality, of course, that at most describes the initial concept phase and usually a huge amount of thought and research and experience and training will have been needed to come up with that concept.

Here, with the chair from Overgaard & Dyrman you see how many parts there are and that the form, and precise details of each part has to be meticulously determined and then you see, with the tools on show, just how much skill is required to make those parts and then assemble a chair.

 

 

Overgaard & Dyrman illustrate so well that core strength of Danish design where design and manufacture are in partnership - both disciplines contributing to the creation of the finished work.

Here, of course, the designers are the makers and the makers are the designers so it proves that other maxim that actually the best designs so often come from a complete understanding of the materials and techniques being used and that understanding can never be as thorough or as complete as when it is worked out at the work bench.

OVERGAARD & DYRMAN

Skud på Stammen

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An exhibition of furniture where newly-trained cabinetmakers have worked in collaboration with established designers to produce trial designs for furniture that would be appropriate for smaller homes. 

The exhibition showcases the work by students from NEXT– Uddannelse København who coordinate the training of both school students and vocational training for adults over the age of 25 in a wide range of work disciplines but also involved are DI - the association of Danish Industry - who have hosted the exhibition and, appropriately given this year’s theme, FDB Møbler - the furniture company of the Danish Cooperative movement who when they were first established in the late 1940s focused first on producing a range of well-designed and well-made furniture for young families setting up home and often within the limited space of a small apartment.

The other interesting aspect of the exhibition is that all the pieces had to be made in elm … a wood that in the past was used for making furniture but is a tree that in northern Europe in the late 20th century was almost-totally lost through first disease and then climate change. It is not as well known now as oak or beech for furniture making but has a distinct grain and it is good to see how the cabinetmakers have used a single type of timber to produce very different forms of joinery that exploit the unique character of the timber.

 

the exhibition continues until 6 April 2018

at DI (Dansk Industri) H C Andersens Boulevard 18, Copenhagen

AIR CHAIR
Designer: Troels Grum Schwensen
Pupils: Christoffer Andreas Rudolph and Kristina Nielsen

LÆNESTOL
Designer: Emil Reimert
Pupils: Laura Klakk, Pim van Vliet and Pernille Falsberg

TO BORDE
Designer: Åsa Alm
Pupil:  Lulu Jacobsen

EN STOL
Designer: Aske Foersom and Jesper Rosenmeier
Pupil:  Kris Vejnø

 

The Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition 2018

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It has been announced that the venue this year for the Cabinetmakers’ Autumn Exhibition will be the Thorvaldsen Museum in Copenhagen.

Each year the committee choses a theme for the works and this year it will be MONO with works to explore the ideas of monochrome; monologue or monolithic to create furniture that “individually and collectively express a rhythmic narrative and simple whole.”

Thorvaldsen’s Museum, on the north side of Christiansborg, was designed by the architect Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll and completed in 1848 to provide an appropriate building to house and display the work of the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. With the galleries arranged around a central courtyard, the rooms have a striking and rich colour scheme that formed a background to the neo-classical figures in the collection.

The furniture in the Autumn Exhibition will use one of the eight colours used in the decoration of the building or will be in the natural colour of the wood used.

Snedkernes Efterårsudstilling

The Pot chair by Arne Jacobsen to be relaunched

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At the Stockholm Furniture Fair in February, The Republic of Fritz Hansen will relaunch the Pot Chair that was designed by Arne Jacobsen in 1959 for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen.

Fritz Hansen manufactured the original furniture for the hotel including, of course, the famous Egg Chair and the Swan Chair. What now strikes me as incredible is that Jacobsen, with a relatively small design office, worked not only on the building itself - a large, complex building - a high concrete tower using what were then new construction techniques in Scandinavia - but he also designed textiles, cutlery and glassware for the restaurants and an amazing and distinctive range of furniture including bedside cupboards and desks and other fixed furniture in the hotel rooms but also this chair, the Pot Chair, that was used in the bars and lounges of the hotel, and square, almost wedge shaped, upholstered arm chairs and sofas on thin steel legs that he designed for the airport departure lounge attached to the hotel - the 3300 series - another chair that also deserves to be better known. 

Republic of Fritz Hansen

1958 was a good year for design

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the display at Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen with the three famous chairs that Arne Jacobsen designed in 1958 for the SAS Royal Hotel with the floor-standing lamp from the same year

 

This year - through 2018 - Fritz Hansen will mark the 60th anniversary of the furniture designed by Arne Jacobsen for the SAS Royal Hotel in Copenhagen.

The Egg and The Swan were shown to the public for the first time at the Formes Scandinaves exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in November 1958 and at the showroom of Fritz Hansen in January 1959. The hotel was completed and opened in 1960.

Furniture was produced by Fritz Hansen for the 275 rooms and for the public spaces of the hotel - perhaps the most significant contract for any major modern furniture company. 

Fritz Hansen has just released a limited edition of The Egg and there will be anniversary editions of The Drop chair in September and of The Swan in December.

The hotel is one of the most important examples of what German critics describe usefully as Gesamtkunstwerk or total design. These chairs, on their own, would be considered as outstanding designs but Jacobsen, with a small design team - the studio was in his own home - produced the designs for the building; the interior designs for complex public spaces including the lobby with its circular staircase and the large transit hall for the airline; designs for all the architectural hardware including door handles and stair rails; a phenomenal range of furniture including several other chairs, tables, bedside cupboards; rugs; light fittings and even the glassware, silverware and cutlery for the dining room. A truly remarkable achievement.

Republic of Fritz Hansen

a new display for the Spherical Bed by Kaare Klint

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The Spherical Bed, designed by Kaare Klint in 1938 and made in Cuban mahogany by the cabinetmaker Rud. Rasmussen, is now back on display at Designmuseum Danmark in a small gallery space along with the mirrored dressing table from the same year and a number of drawings by Klint.

The globe in wire - to show the underlying geometry in the design of the bed - and a wire-frame version of the dressing table were conceived by Boris Berlin and made by Rasmus Heide.

 

Dressing Table designed in 1938 when it was shown in the exhibition on the work of Klint at Designmuseum Danmark in 2014

 

New Year resolution? ... putting a design classic through its paces

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image from COACH fitness magazine

 

I'm not sure that this is what Arne Jacobsen had in mind when he designed the chair but I guess this is one way to get rid of all those calories put on over Christmas. Is this what is called an incline press or is it a weird plank?

What is it with the English and Chair 7? Christine Keeler sat on it the wrong way round although, as that chair was a fake, does it still count as sacrilege?

Søren Ulrich - Christmas market Saturday 16th December

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Christmas market ... in Esromgade so just across the park from Jægersborggade.

Bowls, ladles, spoons in wood plus furniture and of course the amazing selection of woodwork tools. There will be stalls for food and drink - including, I was told, 'warm vermouth' - in the courtyard and works from other artists. 

Tools, books and work can also be ordered online through the new web site ... follow link below

Søren Ulrich Esromgade 15, Copenhagen

 

Aalto at Designmuseum Danmark

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An exhibition has just opened at Designmuseum Danmark about the building and furniture for the Paimio Sanatorium designed by Alvar Aalto and completed in 1933. The exhibition, in the area to the left of the entrance, includes two of the original chairs from the sanatorium that are in the permanent collection of the museum along with photograph of the building work, information and photographs of drawings and the finished building and its interior. 

The sanatorium was designed for the treatment of tuberculosis so the Functionalist building had features such as cupboards fixed up off the floor to make cleaning easier and there were wide and open balconies and a sun deck on the top floor where patients could sit out in the fresh air. The chairs were made with frames in steam-bent beech and with birch plywood … in part because these were timbers native to Finland and in part they provided comfort but also avoided potential problems with the hygiene of upholstery.

the exhibition continues until 21 January 2017

KADK Afgang Sommer’17

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This weekend is the last opportunity to see the exhibition of the projects and work of this year's graduates from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation … a densely packed show of the talents and the phenomenal imaginations and skills of the students who have just completed their courses in Copenhagen.

There are profiles of the students and photographs and descriptions of their work on the KADK site.

The exhibition ends on 13th August. 

KADK, Danneskiold-Samsøe Alle, Copenhagen

KADK Afgang Sommer’17

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There is an exhibition of the projects and work of the students who have graduated this summer from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (KADK) in Copenhagen.

There are profiles of the students with some photographs and short descriptions of their work on the KADK site.

The exhibition ends on 13th August. 

KADK, Danneskiold-Samsøe Alle, Copenhagen