Woven Lines

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An exhibition of the latest work by the textile designer Helene Vonsild has just opened at the craft and designers gallery - Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere - in Copenhagen. This is an intriguing and very beautiful and elegant exhibition that is a development of the techniques and the ideas shown by Helene last May when the work Human Textile Object was selected for Liquid Life … The Biennale for Craft & Design.

 

 

K&D - Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere - Bredgade 66, 1260 Copenhagen K

the exhibition continues until 8 April 2018

I am Black Velvet

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This is the last week to see the exhibition of the work of Erik Mortensen at Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen. I am Black velvet shows the haute couture designs for Pierre Balmain and Jean Louis Scherrer from 1982 through to 1995. 

I am Black Velvet, Designmuseum Danmark

the exhibition continues until 18th March 2018

I RUM - by Anja M Larsen

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Laser-cut textiles ... an exhibition of designs by Anja Merete Larsen … studies in aesthetics and acoustics

"Where is the line between public and private? Can we change people's habits by repositioning a wall, pull a curtain or turning a door? It has great value for both employers and individuals to create confidence-inspiring space.

There is currently much debate about creating work environments that can suit both introverted and extroverted personality types. Environments where people can find peace, energy and focus. What is the optimum for an effective workplace? I think this is an interesting discussion to take up."

 

Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere - Officinet, Bredgade 66, Copenhagen

3rd - 18th February 2018

 

BlackStar 1-180

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Vibeke Rohland, the Copenhagen textile artist and designer, has just published a major book on her print series BlackStar 1-180 with studies exploring the theme of her signature design of the plus sign over-layed.

BlackStar 1-180 is available for purchase on line and from the bookshop at Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen, Cinnabar in Copenhagen and the design store Stilleben

 

Vibeke Rohland

Venterum at Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere

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An exhibition of the work of the ceramicist Kirsten Holm Nielsen, the textile artist Birgit Daa Birkkjær and the paper artist Jette Nørregaard under the title Venterum or Waiting Room inspired by the building which was the pharmacy of the hospital.

Kirsten Holm Nielsen

Birgit Daa Birkkjær

Jette Nørregaard

the exhibition continues until 24 September at Officinet, Bredgade 66, København K

 

 

Yamanashi Hemslöjd at designmuseum danmark

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An exhibition of weaving, embroidery and knitting at designmuseum danmark … the work of Mikiko Yamanashi and of Yamanashi Hemslöjd, the school of weaving, that she opened in the Swedish Cultural Centre in Tokyo in 1971. The exhibition is one of the events that have been organised in Copenhagen to mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the formal diplomatic relationship between Denmark and Japan.  

from 5th September, and continuing through until Sunday 10th September

 

Kunsthåndværkermarked - first day

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Today was the first day of the major annual craft market at Frue Plads in Copenhagen - Kunsthåndværkermarked - with ceramics, glassware, jewellery and textiles. Organised by the members of the association of Danish crafts - Danske Kunsthåndværkere & Designere - the market continues on Friday and Saturday 11th and 12th August. 

 

an “Adidas Original”

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publicity photographs from Adidas/Kvadrat
pen portrait from Designmuseum Danmark

 

 

… or should that be an Adidas / Kvadrat collaboration with a Stan Smith classic and a Vibeke Rohland original?

Vibeke Rohland, the Copenhagen artist, designed the fabric in 2005 and Squares has been in production by the Danish textile company Kvadrat since 2008 and is available in ten colour ways.

The collaboration between Kvadrat and Adidas was so top secret that even Vibeke was kept out of the loop until the first publicity came out this month. Her reaction? “Cool”

Had she no idea at all ……. well there had been a very weird phone call from the design department at Kvadrat back in February asking what size shoe she wears … it did seem odd for any sort of company publicity material but then she forgot all about it.

Adidas missed a publicity trick as Vibeke can regularly be seen running … and I do mean running … up the harbour from her studio to Toldbod and beyond.

Maybe these sport shoes wouldn’t get past the Wimbledon white-only dress code but for anywhere else they sure beat plain canvas.

The shoes will be available from early July in three different colour ways.

Vibeke Rohland
Squares from Kvadrat

 

I am Black Velvet - Erik Mortensen - Haute Couture

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The Danish designer Erik Mortensen was born in Frederikshavn in 1926 and studied in Copenhagen as an apprentice to the fashion designer Holger Blom before moving to Paris when he was just 22 years old - to the House of Pierre Balmain - first as a student and then from 1951 as an assistant to Balmain. After the death of Balmain in 1982, Mortensen was appointed head designer of the fashion house.

He left Pierre Balmain in 1990 and from 1992 was head of design for Jean Louis Scherrer. 

More than seventy of the works that Mortensen created in Paris are shown in I am Black Velvet - a major exhibition at Designmuseum Danmark.

I can not claim to have any real interest in fashion and I do find the extravagance and ostentation of haute couture not just slightly alien but actually rather disconcerting … my inner puritan starts to come out … but even I have to admit that the quality and craftsmanship in these outfits is outstanding and the complexity of the shapes and silhouettes and the incredible richness of the colours is certainly dramatic.

 

I am Black Velvet at Designmuseum Danmark until 28th January 2018

 

3daysofdesign at Frederiksgade 1

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working drawings shown by Overgaard & Dyrman along with many of the tools that they use to make their metal and leather chairs

 

The large apartment building at Frederiksgade 1 is close to the Marble Church and has been hemmed in by engineering works for the new metro station so for several years the front entrance has been reduced to a sort of narrow alley fenced across by high dark-green hoardings and has had a ‘temporary’ wooden ramp over the front stone steps. 

But this building is home to an amazing group of design companies. In fact it connects through to the furniture store nyt i bo that is sort of across the courtyard at Store Kongensgade 88 … sort of because at upper levels all the apartment spaces, all round the courtyard and above nyt i bo, are occupied by design companies. For design in Copenhagen it is - to use a word I hate using - a hub.

Here there are offices or studios or display space for House of Finn Juhl, File Under Pop, Helle Flou, Overgaard & Dyrman, PLEASE WAIT to be SEATED, Vibeke Fonnesberg Schmidt and others … and, of course, across the top of the whole thing, Getama.

For 3daysofdesign nyt i bo hosted a number of pop-up displays and demonstrations by companies including dk3 and Sika-Design.

One of the entries in the programme for 3daysofdesign describe the place as a “creative society” and packed out with visitors on the first evening I guess that is a much better description of the place than as a hub.

 
 

Weaving Kiosk at Frederiksgade

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Weaving Kiosk had set up a loom at Frederiksgade and showed some of the work they produce.

Rosa Tolnov Claussen and the Finnish fashion designer Merja Henele Ulvinen work together to run a series of weaving classes that introduce the craft skill to people who have not woven textiles before and they have designed pieces, like a backpack/bag, that students taking the classes can produce and take away with them … both the bags shown here were on loan from the new weavers who made them.

This is not about a nice hobby for weekends - though it could certainly be that - but neither is it about some sort of extreme political angst about people taking back the means of production. 

But it seems to me that important initiatives like this are about making people aware of a strong tradition of making by hand the objects we need and use everyday. And by making design less about consumerism or passive search and buy - unless you define activity as swiping a finger across the screen of a phone or iPad - and certainly more about understanding materials and appreciating how things we use are made and understanding how it is possible to find good design that we like and good design that should - even if it is in a simple way - enhance our lives every time we use what we have.  

And it seems to me that having makers, craftsmen and designers, working in the community rather than out on an industrial estate or in an open-air museum - should inspire us and inspire our kids to be fascinated by designing and making and producing so they understand much more about what they are buying. If children don’t see a work bench, how do they know they could one day be a cabinet maker and if they don’t see a potter at a wheel how do they understand how, by stages through our history, people have found ways to make wet clay into useful or beautiful pots or pots that are actually both useful and beautiful. Without handling yarn and making textiles how do we understand the different characteristics of linen or cotton or wool and how can we really appreciate the different textiles we buy? 

Weaving Kiosk

 
 

Kvadrat for 3daysofdesign

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Kvadrat are an interesting design company in terms of branding. Even if you ask people in Denmark who are outside the world of design - and they do exist - most know the name and the fabrics. In England I’m not sure that anyone, outside the business of making or selling furniture, would be able to name the company and not always then or, if given the name, would be able to say what they make which is interesting because nearly every backside in the UK will have sat on a Kvadrat fabric.

At 3daysofdesign, the company made an appearance in many different events throughout the city so the new range designed by Raf Simons was shown at the furniture store Paustian in Nordhavn and featured at Fredericia in the city centre.

At Pakhus 48, Kvadrat’s own showrooms in Nordhavn, there were amazing and fascinating masks designed by GamFratesi using fabric designed by Giulio Ridolfo.

Kvadrat

Paustian, Kalkbrænderiløbskaj 2

upholstery fabrics by Raf Simons shown at Fredericia

 
 

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