At the Verpan showroom, an area devoted to the work of Verner Panton, the famend Danish designer’s daughter Carin Panton von Halem regaled a rapt viewers with an anecdote. Apparently when Panton’s cone chair was displayed in a New York store window within the late Fifties, it needed to be eliminated by the police after drivers distracted by the tomato purple seat acquired right into a street accident. She additionally had tales about how the neighbours of the Pantons’ well-known Hornbæk summer season home began a petition to get him to vary the brilliant inexperienced exterior of the vacation dwelling.
Over on the Hem furnishings store, Finnish designer Yrjö Kukkapuro’s daughter Isa gave an equally private speech on the launch of the brand new version of Kukkapuro’s experiment chair. She defined how the unique launch of the chair coincided with the delivery of her daughter Ida. Two great creations.
Panton and Kukkapuro could also be two of essentially the most esteemed names within the historical past of Nordic design, however at Copenhagen’s annual design pageant 3daysofdesign this week, it shortly turned obvious that almost all corporations are family-owned and there may be enormous pleasure on this. Few furnishings showrooms may very well be visited with out listening to in regards to the variety of generations that labored there. Certainly, it was a uncommon presentation that began with out a reference to the grandfather who began the enterprise.
At a time when entrepreneurs, startups and enterprise unicorns are valued, household companies appear old style, however trying on the success of 3daysofdesign, it may be time to suppose once more.
The pageant began in 2013 with 4 Danish manufacturers in an previous warehouse within the harbour district of Nordhavn. In 2024, greater than 400 exhibitors – primarily from the Nordic international locations but additionally farther afield – had been housed in 11 totally different districts located all through Copenhagen.
Henrik Ljung is CEO of Dux Beds, the fourth era of his household to run the corporate, and places a 30% enhance in gross sales within the final 12 months down partly to guests to the design occasion. This 12 months Dux launched a very sustainable, replaceable and recyclable element mattress on the pageant. On the dinner to rejoice, Ljung toasted 3daysofdesign as “the brand new epicentre of design”.
Nonetheless, the emphasis on household ties doesn’t seem to exclude new expertise from the enterprise. The design hub DDcated was a fantastic instance of how this pleasure in heritage was additionally used to assist the subsequent era. The Lapidarium of Kings is a museum displaying an eclectic assortment of statues in a 400-year-old constructing that was as soon as the king’s brewhouse. This week the eccentric location was additionally a showroom for 56 designers, resulting in the unforgettable juxtaposition of bathrooms constructed from sawdust and resin – by the corporate Woodio – and interiors model Elvang’s recycled alpaca wool cushions with classical statues of Danish royalty resembling King Frederik V alongside Roman deities and even a group of statues carved by a Norwegian postman.
Peter Mørk, certainly one of DDcated’s founders, mentioned the placement had been chosen as a result of museums ought to be about trying ahead in addition to backwards. The venue may host particular person designers in addition to small corporations due to the funding from Ege Carpets. In Copenhagen, it appears, even when your grandfather hasn’t arrange a design enterprise, an OG Danish firm can fill that position for you. Mørk thinks the sense of lineage comes from the truth that the nation is small so maintaining issues within the household is vital. “We’re Danish, it’s a pleasure factor.”
Copenhagen definitely felt like a spot of pleasure throughout the pageant. The four-storey Home of Design on Frederiksgade – the place standout exhibitors included glassware from Orrefors and the ceramic present by Peach Nook – was as full and excited as a home occasion. Particularly within the areas by furnishings manufacturers Body Studio and Saetter Copenhagen.
The temper was greatest summed at Muuto, a furnishings store on Østergade. Exhibiting guests across the showroom, PR supervisor Mikkel Friis Ovesen instructed the visitors: “Please contact and be happy to make a large number – that is furnishings, not artwork.”
