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Designer Helle Mardahl has combined her signature approach to colour with traditional architectural elements for the interior of her Copenhagen flagship store. More
Danish designer David Thulstrup has renovated a 218-year-old canal-side warehouse in Copenhagen to create four apartments defined by “quiet luxury”. More
Shiny silver curtains and a lacquered burgundy stage feature inside the flagship store for Danish womenswear label Rotate, which opened in Copenhagen during fashion week.
Locally based French designer Thibaut Allgayer designed the two-level store on Kristen Bernikows Gade.
Rotate’s flagship store features a mirrored counter and a lacquered burgundy stageIt is the first physical location for Rotate, which was launched by stylist influencers Thora Valdimars and Jeanette Friis Madsen in 2018 and is part of the Birger Christensen Collective.
Allgayer’s design concept was to create a series of freestanding architectural elements that divide the space into different zones and allow it to function in different ways.
The counter is formed of three stacked semi-circles”We were thinking about what a flagship store for a brand is today,” explained Allgayer during a preview tour.
“It’s not only about selling clothes; it’s a destination,” he told Dezeen. “It should also be welcoming for parties and events, creating different experiences.”
Burgundy wall units organise the ground-floor spaceA mirrored counter, formed of three stacked semi-circles, is the first thing customers see as they arrive.
This polished stainless-steel element rotates around an existing column, allowing it to function as a checkout desk, a bar or a display unit.
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Also in this room, a triangular set of steps can serve as a seating area or a stage. With its high-shine burgundy lacquer finish, it provides a focal point in the corner of the space.
Wall units with the same burgundy lacquer finish divide the front of the store from the rear, creating a narrow central corridor with video screens integrated into the walls.
Silver curtains frame an oval roomThis leads through to an oval room framed by silver curtains, slender graphic display rails and a curvy white sofa.
A custom-built brushed-steel staircase connects the ground floor with the basement, a carpeted space with a dressing-room feel. Details include silk curtains, a daybed and a vertical lighting fixture.
Fitting rooms offer a kaleidoscopic effectChanging rooms are slotted in behind the new fixture, with mirrors creating a kaleidoscopic effect.
“The brand plays with this contrast between raw and sleek, fun and serious, soft and strict, colourful and neutral,” said Allgayer.
“I was trying to translate that into the architecture.”
A custom-built brushed-steel staircase leads downstairsCombined with the silver and burgundy elements, a muted green shade brings an edgy feel to the colour palette.
Allgayer also played with transparency, texture and reflection, with materials including granite and glass.
The basement is a carpeted space with a dressing-room feel”I was trying to find materials that reflect the brand’s values,” said Allgayer.
“The space needs to be neutral because the collection is going to change season to season. But neutrals for me are not necessarily about being grey.”
The design plays with transparency, texture and reflectionRotate opened its doors for the first time on 5 August, coinciding with the start of Copenhagen Fashion Week.
It is an important milestone for the fast-growing label, described by Vogue as “a go-to partywear brand”. The ambition is for Rotate to become a major Scandinavian export, following in the footsteps of Ganni.
“Rotate is a brand with a beating heart and unique DNA,” said Madsen and Validmars, who serve as the label’s creative directors.
The store is located on Kristen Bernikows Gade in Copenhagen”We have had a strong sense of the world that our brand has existed in for so many years, that the opening of the store is an organic progression,” the duo continued.
“We are thrilled to host our loyal community, and offer a space where they can feel at home, engaged and excited in our hometown of Copenhagen.”
The photography is courtesy of Rotate.
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As part of 3 Days of Design, Danish practice Natural Material Studio has created a futuristic fossil-free home interior where all the elements, from the curtains to the sofa, are made from the same bioplastic.
White Utopia is Natural Material Studio’s most ambitious installation to date, adapting the studio’s Procel bioplastic to form massive functioning furniture pieces across three separate rooms – a dining room, a lounge and a bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe.
The White Utopia installation includes a lounge (top image) and dining room (above)The exhibition envisions a future where our homes are made entirely using biomaterials like this, which can be endlessly remade into new products and backyard composted at the end of their life, rather than ending up in landfill.
“The installation has for sure been the most challenging to date due to the complexity in scale and the three-dimensionality of the whole ‘house’,” studio founder Bonnie Hvillum told Dezeen. “You can really start to see how we can live with these new materials.”
Every element down to the lampshades is made from Procel bioplasticNatural Material Studio initially developed Procel as a flexible biotextile, used to form everything from clothes to curtains. But recently, the studio started experimenting with adapting its recipe to create whole load-bearing furniture pieces.
The core ingredient is a specific – although nondisclosed – natural protein, which Hvillum says can be derived from either plants or animals.
Among the larger pieces is a monobloc biofoam sofa”It’s very much used in the medical industry, also in bookbinding,” said the designer, who sources her protein from different suppliers across Europe.
“It’s used in many different places,” she added. “But when I called them and said ‘can you figure out a way of supplying this to me’, they were like ‘okay, we’ve never had this question before’.”
The installation also features a bedroom with a walk-in wardrobeTo create Procel, this natural protein is mixed with a small amount of chalk for strength and a natural softener made from plant oils for flexibility.
Combined in different rations and cast into different moulds, this mixture was used to create not just the textile room dividers found in White Utopia but an entire bio-foam sofa for the living room, stools for the dining area and a giant platform bed that visitors were encouraged to sit on.
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By taking out the softener, Natural Material Studio was also able to create more rigid pieces, including a dining table that was originally cast as a simple rectangle but deformed into a more organic shape as it dried.
“The presented design objects are really pushing the possibilities of these materials,” Hvillum said. “Opening the door to making them structural is a completely new route for us.”
“I think it holds so much potential, creating materials that resemble polystyrene and vacuum-formed plastics.”
Visitors were encouraged to sit on the bioplastic bedFurnituremakers including Isomi and Natuzzi have already started experimenting with using natural latex as an alternative to traditional polyurethane upholstery foam, as the plastic is hard to recycle and contains toxic chemicals.
Hvillum argues that Procel could offer another promising alternative, as it can be endlessly recast to form new products or simply buried outside in the garden, where it will degrade within a month.
“We are basically investigating fluidity,” Hvillum said. “So everything is in motion and things can move on to have another life. ”
“This is how we envision the future to be.”
Procel biotextiles were also used to form wall coveringsProcel has already made it out into the real world with clients including Calvin Klein and Copenhagen restaurant ÅBEN.
A collaboration with a Spanish luxury fashion house is also in the works, despite the brand being weary of using animal-derived protein.
However, Hvillum argues that animal polymers can actually be more sustainable than their vegan counterpart because they are made from waste residues from the meat industry.
The dining table deformed as it dried”When we work with animal-based materials, we can actually tap into a waste flow so we work with second-generation materials,” she explained. “Whereas when we work with plant materials, we work with virgin materials.”
“Sustainability is a lot more complex than just: is it animal or is it vegan,” she added. “It’s more about: what sources can we reuse from so that we keep things in a circular loop.”
The photography is by Peter Vinther.
White Utopia was part of 3 Days of Design, which took place at venues across Copenhagen from 12 to 14 June. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
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Danish designer Signe Hytte had Oscar Wilde in mind when designing this home for a fictional poet, presented during 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen.
Enter the Salon was an exhibition of furniture and homeware products from seven different brands, styled to feel more like a lived-in interior than a show space.
Enter the Salon took cues from the salons of the 19th centuryThe project was initiated by The Conary, a private members’ club for senior executives with C-suite roles. The club gave Hytte free rein to transform its rooms during the design festival.
Hytte, who was previously head of design for &Tradition, decided to create a modern reinterpretation of the 19th-century salon, a place where artists, musicians, writers and thinkers would come together to share ideas.
Rooms featured furniture and objects from seven different brands”I wanted to create a narrative,” Hytte told Dezeen during the tour.
She said she aimed to create an interior that didn’t feel branded, so guests could imagine real-life scenes unfolding. This led her to think about the house being home to a poet.
“My vision was to do away with the classic fair stand and tell a story instead, one where every guest can explore multiple layers and find their own to be inspired by,” she said.
Rooms include a study designed for a writerThe exhibition spread across two floors, with furniture by Japanese brand Karimoku Case, lighting by Japanese company Ambientec and beds from Sweden-based Carpe Diem Beds.
Portuguese homeware brand Origin Made, American design office Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, Danish textile company Silkeborg Uldspinderi and Danish box-making company August Sandgren completed the line-up.
Wall tapestries from Ladies & Gentlemen Studio hung in various roomsThe most striking space is the study, where shelves filled with assorted objects provide a backdrop to a bureau.
This desk was also laden with objects, including piles of paper, a leather pencil pot and bound letters, while a large paper pendant lamp hung overhead.
“I wanted to push the brands out of their comfort zone,” said Hytte. “You can imagine this as the study of a writer.”
A bag sits next to a sofa in the ground-floor reception roomUpon arriving, the first room visitors encountered was a large reception space that flowed into a dining area.
The mood here was defined by a Japanese-style skylight, which created a soft-lit atmosphere.
Faye Toogood fills interior of Frama store with colourful Collage installation
Upstairs, the study formed part of a private suite including a small living room and a bedroom.
The upper floor also included a double-height atrium that Hytte styled as a courtyard patio.
A Japanese-style skylight offered a soft atmosphere in the dining roomThe colour and material palette was highly muted, with most objects and surfaces displaying shades of cream, brown, taupe and soft green, but each room had a distinct mood.
Traces of life could be found throughout but were very subtle. A pair of glasses appeared to have been left in the first-floor sitting room, while a handbag sat next to one of the sofas in the ground-floor lounge.
In the bedroom, details included a wall tapestry by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio resembling a hanging kimono.
To enhance the salon feel, a soundtrack created a sense of someone playing the piano elsewhere in the house, while Oscar Wilde quotes can be found on some of the walls.
Danish brand Kvadrat supplied textiles for curtains, bringing an element of softness. The effect is most pronounced in the atrium, where white curtains surround the entire space.
An atrium became a courtyard patio for eventsThis space served as a venue for events throughout 3 Days of Design, including a drinks reception co-hosted by Dezeen and a panel discussion chaired by editorial director Max Fraser.
Other installations at 3 Days of Design include an exhibition by furniture brand Federicia that shows adaptations of iconic mid-century furniture classics and sculptural wood furniture created by Faye Toogood in Danish design studio Frama.
Enter the Salon took place from 12 to 14 June as part of 3 Days of Design. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
The photography is by Sofie Staunsager and Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.
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An exhibition during 3 Days of Design showcased the vast archive of Jens Quistgaard, who is one of Denmark’s most successful designers, despite being relatively unknown.
Quistgaard, who passed away in 2008, was responsible for bringing Scandinavian design to homes across America.
As chief designer for US-based homeware manufacturer and retailer Dansk Designs for three decades, he designed more than 4,000 objects, many distributed to hundreds of stores nationwide.
Jens Quistgaard Around The Table showcased furniture and tableware by the late Danish designerQuistgaard’s name is nowhere near as well known as the products he designed, so his contribution to Danish design history is largely unrecognised.
With Jens Quistgaard Around The Table, archive consultancy Form Portfolios hoped to promote a wider appreciation of this “world-famous unknown Dane”.
The exhibition was on show at Form Portfolios’ Copenhagen office for 3 Days of Design.
A dining table showcased many of the products Quistgaard developed for Dansk Designs”With his 30-year collaboration with Dansk, Quistgaard was the design genius behind the scenes of that seminal brand,” said Mark Masiello, CEO and founder of Form Portfolios.
“He was more committed to bringing Scandinavian modern design into American homes than building his own design legacy,” he told Dezeen.
Quistgaard’s series of sculptural peppermills was displayed on the wallQuistgaard was recruited in 1954 by Dansk Designs founders Martha and Ted Nierenberg, who were impressed by a cutlery set that the designer had previously developed.
Many of the designs that Quistgaard produced for the brand were tableware and kitchenware, which is why Form Portfolios made a dining table the focal point of its exhibition.
The designer developed more than 4,000 objects in his 30 years at Dansk DesignsThe table provided display space for dozens and dozens of Quistgaard-designed objects, including plates, cutlery, candleholders, glasses, cooking pots, jugs and more.
Behind the table, rows of shelves accommodated a series of sculptural peppermills.
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As the designs for which Quistgaard is most likely to be remembered, these turned-wood peppermills recall the shapes of familiar objects, from chess pieces to pieces of fruit.
“The peppermill designs clearly show the love of sculpture that flows through Quistgaard’s work,” said Masiello.
The exhibition was on show for 3 Days of Design”His daughter, Henriette Quistgaard, said he hoped the peppermills on their own could be the beginnings of great dinner conversations,” he stated.
The exhibition also featured larger objects, including a handful of furniture designs. Masiello pointed to the Stokke Armchair (1965) and the Sculptors Chair (2004) as being particularly noteworthy.
The Sculptors Chair was among the furniture works on display”I find his creative range so inspiring,” Masiello said. “Working with different materials and object types, he was always pushing his design practice to new frontiers.”
“He is more well known for the kitchen objects, but he was always exploring other designs too, including chairs, stools and tables,” he continued.
Many of the objects were sourced from Quistgaard’s former homeThe show was curated in collaboration with Stig Guldberg, author of the monograph Jens Quistgaard: The Sculpting Designer, which was published by Phaidon in 2023.
Many of the exhibits were sourced from the home where the designer spent his final years, a farmhouse on the outskirts of Copenhagen where Henriette Quistgaard still lives today.
Original sketches featured alongside the objects”My father was a visionary of design, bridging the old world of craftsmanship into the new world of manufacturing,” Henriette said.
“It is thrilling to see the full body of his life’s work being shown.”
Jens Quistgaard Around the Table was on show from 12 to 14 June as part of 3 Days of Design. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
The photography is by Sofie Hvitved.
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Swirling metal lamps, stools made from old kitchen cabinets and a fur-covered desk were among objects on show at House of Nordic Design’s exhibition during 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen.
Titled NoDe, short for Nordic Design, the exhibition featured furniture, homeware and sculpture created by 28 up-and-coming designers and makers from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Sissel Warringa’s Peel Lamp rests atop Anton Mikkonen’s Silhouette tableThese works were dotted around the rooms of a century-old artist’s atelier, located in a loft apartment on Store Strandstræde that could only be accessed via a small old-fashioned lift.
The show was curated by Natalia Sánchez, who founded House of Nordic Design in 2023 to provide both a sales platform and a business support network for designers at the start of their careers.
At the entrance, a textile by Plain Weavers hangs over Lisa Darland’s Mylla rug”When you’re on your own in a studio, it’s very hard to do everything that’s needed to get out there, be part of the market and get attention in the magazines,” she explained.
Some objects were positioned as you might expect to find them in a home, while others had more surprising settings.
Upon entry, visitors were greeted by a ceiling-hung textile by Plain Weavers, which created an unusual juxtaposition with Lisa Darland’s textural rugs underneath.
Works by Moa Markgren, Atelier Marée and Netta Kandelin on display in the kitchenIn the adjacent kitchen, bulging wooden vases by Moa Markgren and ceramics by Atelier Marée are among objects that can be found on the work surfaces.
A bright green stool by Better Weather provided a focal point here. It was playfully displayed atop a fridge freezer in a nod to its materiality – the product is made from recycled cabinet doors.
Better Weather’s Transformer stool stands atop the fridge freezerThe living room featured Studio Kasa Kasa’s fur-covered desk, plus another by Anton Mikkonen with sculpted metal trestles and a glass top.
Other works in this room included Sissel Warringa’s swirling Peel Lamp, Carlberg Design’s bent wire chairs, marbled panelling by Snedker Studio and a granite table by Reeta Laine.
Studio Kasa Kasa’s furry desk stands with Carlberg’s Design’s Skir chairThe final room was a bedroom where a wall of shelves provided display space for many more curiosities. The room also featured a daybed embellished with a patterned textile by A Seat in Siena, as well as Tobias Berg’s bent aluminium chair.
The list of contributors was completed by Anne Nowak, Bellamoli Studio, Dain Kang, Gabi Humnicki, Kajsa Willner, Linda Weimann, Live Berg, MMH Objects, Netta Kandelin, Shunsuke Koya, Stine Mikkelsen, Studio My Comét, Studio Wes, Tale Berger Hølmebakk and Tessa Lulu Kaner.
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Sánchez made the selection after receiving 140 responses to her open call. Many of the designers will continue to work with House of Nordic Design, as it is set to launch an online shop later this year.
“NoDe is an exploration of what’s to come,” said Sánchez.
Artworks by Linda Weimann hang above Reeta Laine’s Torner Side Table”It’s about giving a platform to young designers who are not only pushing the boundaries of design but are also deeply committed to exploring and experimenting with their chosen material,” she continued.
“These designers are the voices of the future, and their work reflects the innovative spirit that is at the heart of Nordic design.”
Bellamoli Studio’s Ratio tables sit beside A Seat in Siena’s Verona daybedNoDe is the second exhibition that House of Nordic Design has staged, after launching with a smaller show at last year’s 3 Days of Design.
The project forms a continuation of Sánchez’s long-running support of emerging designers. She was previously the curator of DAWN, a regular 3 Days of Design show dedicated to young Danish designers.
Visitors to this year’s 3 Days of Design could also explore reiusses of a number of classic chairs and a colourful collaboration between designer Faye Toogood and Danish brand Frama.
NoDe was part of 3 Days of Design, which took place at venues across Copenhagen from 12 to 14 June. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
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Promotion: in 2023 Bentley Motors launched an architecture and design-centred travel experience around Scandinavia, with highlights that included a stay at Wingårdhs’ forest hotel in Sweden and a tour of BIG’s studio in Copenhagen.
The Extraordinary Journey Scandinavia tour was one of a series of curated travel experiences presented by Bentley in 2023, offering the opportunity to explore attractive destinations from behind the wheel of its luxury cars.
The five-day, four-night tour started in Stockholm, where guests were collected from the airport in a chauffeured Bentley and taken to their first night’s stay in the world-renowned Ett Hem hotel.
The first night’s stay was at Stockholm’s Ett Hem hotelWith interiors created by designer Ilse Crawford, the hotel is known for merging luxury with a feeling of home, with spaces that encourage guests to relax and mingle as if at a manor house.
The hotel hosted a welcome reception, dinner in the library and a nightcap for the small party of guests on day one to get to know each other.
On day two, attendees took the wheel of one of several Bentley models on offer and began the journey south through Sweden’s forests, with Scandinavia’s finest architecture and design destinations guiding the way forward.
For lunch on day two, attendees stopped at NaturehouseFor lunch, the tour stopped at Naturehouse, a sustainability-focused lakeside spa by Tailor Made Arkitekter that merges the forms of a barn and a greenhouse, before continuing to reach the Trakt Forest Hotel in Småland in the afternoon.
Designed by Wingårdh architecture studio, the hotel features just five suites that are raised high into the treetops on stilts, giving guests the chance to feel immersed in nature.
The suites are “a true representation of Bentley’s design values of sustainability, materiality, and innovation” said the brand, and guests had the opportunity to relax in the sauna or hot tub before joining the hotel owners Sandra and Mattias Sälleteg at a drinks reception.
The evening also included dinner in a forest near the hotel, which was made by Michelin star chef Niklas Ekstedt and celebrated natural ingredients coming together “to create something greater than the sum of its parts”.
Lunch on day three took place at Wanås Hotel and Sculpture ParkDay three saw the group continue the drive south through Sweden’s forests and stop for lunch at Wanås Hotel and Sculpture Park, built around two converted stone barns with interiors by Kristina Wachtmeister.
They then drove on through Malmö and across the Öresund Bridge, the longest bridge in Europe, connecting Sweden and Denmark, before switching to chauffeured transport once again for the final stretch of the journey to Copenhagen.
With accommodation at the Nimb Hotel in Tivoli Gardens, guests had ample opportunity to explore Copenhagen, including dinner at a world-renowned Nordic restaurant and then a city tour hosted by the Danish Architecture Centre.
Day four included a tour and lunch at Bjarke Ingels Group’s studioThere was also a tour of Bjarke Ingels Group’s studio, hosted by a member of the team who gave insights into their creative practice. Lunch was also held within “the beating heart” of the office.
Bentley’s Extraordinary Journey continues in the UK in 2024 with a programme where attendees will experience a scenic route starting at Crewe, the home of Bentley Motors, to The Macallan Estate in Speyside, Scotland. The UK programme runs from 19 to 22 August and 2 to 5 September.
For more information and to register interest, visit the Bentley website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Bentley as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
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Danish studio Spacon & X preserved “different layers of unique history” when designing the Folk Kombucha brewery, which is set within a listed building in Copenhagen’s Meatpacking District.
The factory belongs to fermented-tea brand Folk Kombucha and features a production area for kombucha brewing overlooked by a mezzanine level used for workshops and other social events.
Spacon & X designed a brewery for Folk Kombucha in CopenhagenLocal firm Spacon & X aimed to balance the history of the 1930s functionalist building with its contemporary needs when designing the interior, which is led by cobalt blue, orange and pink accents.
“The buildings in the Meatpacking District are from the 1930s and have a strong character,” said architect Malene Hvidt.
“Our design team aimed to preserve different layers of unique history,” she told Dezeen.
Mustard-hued floor tiles were preserved in the renovationSpacon & X maintained the building’s “archetypal Meatpacking white-tile walls” as well as mustard-yellow and green marble floor tiles.
Translucent iridescent panels were placed behind the various stainless steel fermentation tanks to delineate spaces within the brewery.
The studio also maintained the building’s green marble flooringStainless steel was also used to form the extensive network of pipes connected to the tanks as well as custom tables and benches topped with bright blue rubber.
This tangle of tubes was echoed with the addition of spaghetti-shaped wire lighting.
“The buildings in the area are all known for their white facades with windows and panels painted in a strong cobalt blue colour,” explained Hvidt. “Cobalt blue was chosen to pay tribute to the area itself.”
A mezzanine overlooks the main production areaSpacon & X created lounge tables by recycling plastic packaging salvaged from fish and other food waste, which was industrially produced at the site before it became the Folk Kombucha brewery.
“Instead of throwing out this long-lasting hygienic material, we transformed it into unique custom-made tables,” Hvidt said.
Hand-hammered steel lamps also feature on the interiorArtwork made of scoby — a culture of yeast and bacteria that kickstarts the kombucha fermentation process — was used to decorate the interior alongside bespoke hand-hammered steel lamps.
Other spaces within the multipurpose building include offices, a separate lounge, a laboratory and various storage areas.
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“The brewery’s spatial design was created in a way that resembled and preserved the listed building’s long history and strong character,” said Hvidt.
“The design also incorporates subtle, organic and innovative spatial solutions with functionality and uses the building’s industrial nature as a guiding principle.”
Cobalt blue, orange and pink accents define the breweryElsewhere in Copenhagen, Spacon & X previously created the interior for a burger restaurant filled with natural materials and plants.
The studio has also completed an Ace & Tate glasses store in the city, taking cues from colourful artists’ studios.
The photography is by Hedda Rysstad.
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