Late summer reflections
August 2025
On food, fashion, crafts and other topics
In July, while most of you were probably on holiday, I finished the manuscript and photographs for a special issue of the HÅNDVÆRK bookazine, commissioned by the Copenhagen Hospitality College’s project Gejst in Copenhagen.
In the final article in this special issue, I speak to Christian Bakke Petersen, the chef at the college’s restaurant, where students, employees and outside guests can book a table and enjoy a sustainable, predominantly green lunch. He says,
‘The funny thing is that that when some of my colleagues come by, they are like kids in a sweet shop.’
Kids in a sweet shop – that could be a description of me at the Copenhagen Fashion Week … As many of you will know, this annual event took place this past week, and as many of you will also know, my first business venture was in the fashion industry.
I have continued to follow the field from the sidelines. I have been delighted to see that Henrik Vibskov’s performances have taken on a life of their own, that Anne Sofie Madsen is once again putting on fashion shows, presenting exquisitely designed clothes that are worthy of this spectactular venue – and that the city’s streets have been crowded with people of all ages and genders who have dressed up for the occasion. I decry (many) other developments, including the return of the many skinny models, and I am frustrated by the amount of clothing and widespread use of inferior materials, most of them petroleum-based – as is evident if you take a look inside the exhibition halls where the clothes are traded
During the week, I also had a visit from my grandchildren – one is 8, the other is 2¾.
The eldest was reading the spines of the books in the bookcase, while we were having crepes with sugar and lemon juice:
BODY AND CLOTHING
DANISH FASHION
FASHION IN DENMARK
FASHION: The designer’s century
The youngest asked me, ‘What does “fashion” mean?’
With children of that age, you have to be quick off your mark, and in my answer, I seized on something she had said a few minutes earlier while she was changing: ‘I love glitter. So do all of my friends.’
That is precisely what makes fashion so fascinating. Ignoring for a moment the concerns about overconsumption and the rapid pace that has been throwing moderation to the wind since the late 1980s, fashion is about identity, about expressing yourself. I will never stop finding it fascinating to see how many of us feel like doing the same thing at the same time. This summer, for example, have you noticed how people no longer wear a jumper draped over both their shoulders but draped over one shoulder with the sleeves knotted under the opposite arm?
In a similar vein, I will bet my clothes budget that next spring, we will all be wearing square silk scarves – or silk-like scarves with classic prints – around our necks, like scouts, or, in a bigger version, knotted on one hip.
During the first week of August, Copenhagen also hosts the annual Crafts and Design Fair at Frue Plads.
Friday, 8 August, from 10.00 to 18.00
Saturday, 9 August, from 10.00 to 18.00
As a former owner of a design and fashion shop, I must admit it has taken a long time for me to get used seeing exquisite, sophisticated products on sale at a market, but okay, I accept that others feel differently. I look past the format and focus on enjoying the wide-ranging display of one-offs and decorative art and seeing that with every year, the fair includes more and more young people, who not only focus on form but also have a deeply rooted relationship with their material and the production process.
Over the past six years, many of these makers have been featured in the HÅNDVÆRK bookazine. More will find their way to the pages in the coming years.
The next ordinary HÅNDVÆRK bookazine is released on Thursday, 25 September. The theme of the issue is wool.
If you are not a subscriber, you can take out a subscription here.
Speaking of the Crafts and Design Fair, here is an excerpt from the latest issue of the bookazine, an article about the GenJord [ReEarth] project.
And as a late summer treat, here is a repeat link to my recipe for fig jam.
Sensommercauseri
Om mad, mode og kunsthåndværk blandt andet.
I juli, mens de fleste af jer nok har holdt ferie, har jeg færdiggjort manuskriptet til en ekstraudgave af HÅNDVÆRK bookazine. Den har jeg fotograferet og skrevet for Hotel- og Restaurantskolens projekt Gejst i København.
I den sidste artikel i bookazinet udtaler Christian Bakke Petersen, som er køkkenchef i skolens restaurant, hvor både elever, ansatte og gæster udefra kan bestille bord og nyde en bæredygtig, overvejende grøn frokost:
“Det sjove er, at når jeg får besøg af mine kolleger, så er de som cirkusheste, der dufter savsmuld.”
Cirkushest, der dufter savsmuld – det kunne være mig, når der er modeuge i København. Som mange sikkert har bemærket, fandt den sted i den forgangne uge – hvad mange af jer nok også ved, trådte jeg mine første business-sko i modebranchen.
Jeg har fulgt med fra sidelinjen og glædet mig over ting som, at Henrik Vibskovs performances har deres eget liv, og at Anne Sofie Madsen er tilbage på showscenen med tøj i så høj en formmæssig kvalitet, at det er scenen værdigt – og at byens gader har været befolket af mennesker i alle aldre og køn, som har klædt sig på og ud. Jeg begræder (meget) andet, for eksempel at vi igen er tilbage, hvor hovedparten af modellerne er alt for tynde, og jeg frustreres over mængden af tøj og mængden af dårlige materialer, hvoraf hovedparten er oliebaseret – som ses, når man retter blikket mod messehallerne, dér hvor tøj bliver handlet.
I ugens løb har jeg også haft besøg af mine børnebørn – en på 8 og en på 2¾.
Den ældste læste på bogryggene i reolen, mens vi spiste pandekager med sukker og citron:
KROP OG KLÆR
DANSK PÅ MODE
MODE I DANMARK
MODE – designerens århundrede
Den lille spurgte: “Hvad betyder mode?”
Med børn i den alder har man ikke lang betænkningstid, og jeg greb ud efter noget, hun selv havde sagt få minutter forinden, mens hun skiftede tøj: “Jeg elsker glimmer, det gør mine venner også.”
Det er netop dét, der gør mode fascinerende. Hvis vi et øjeblik ser bort fra bekymringer om ressourceforbrug og fra det tempo, som siden slut-80’erne har sat al rimelighed over styr – så handler mode om identitet, om at udtrykke sig, og jeg holder aldrig op med at fascineres over, hvordan mange af os på samme tid får lyst til at gøre det samme. Har du for eksempel noteret dig, at denne sommer har man ikke båret sin sweater over skuldrene, men over den ene skulder, mens ærmerne har været knyttet under modsatte arm?
I samme boldgade vil jeg satse mine tøjpenge på, at vi næste forår går med kvadratiske silketørklæder – eller silkelignende tørklæder med et à la klassiske print – om halsen som en anden spejder, eller i en større variant om den ene hofte.
København, første uge af august, byder også på det årligt tilbagevendende kunsthåndværkermarked på Vor Frue Plads.
Fredag den 8. august kl. 10-18
Lørdag den 9. august kl. 10-18
Med en fortid som indehaver af design- og modebutik må jeg ærligt indrømme, at det har taget mig lang tid at vænne mig til at se eksklusive produkter i et markedssetup – men ok, jeg bøjer mig for, at sådan har ikke alle det. Jeg ser gennem formen og koncentrerer mig om at glædes over det mangfoldige udbud af både unika og kunstindustri, og over at der år for år kommer flere unge og yngre, som ikke bare vil give form, men også har et dybt forankret forhold til deres materiale og til fremstillingsprocessen.
Mange – ingen nævnt, ingen glemt – har i løbet af de seneste seks år været portrætteret i HÅNDVÆRK bookazine. Flere vil finde vej i de kommende år.
Næste ordinære HÅNDVÆRK bookazine udkommer torsdag d. 25. september, det handler om uld.
Har du ikke allerede tegnet abonnement kan du gøre det her.
Når vi nærmer os udgivelsestidspunktet kan du forudbestille enkelteksemplarer.
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