The List
It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that Copenhagen has once again been home to
3daysofdesign.
I am thrilled to live in a country that has design
as part of its foundations.
But …
June 2025
The theme this year is Keep it Real, and in the interior design magazine Bo Bedre’s ad-funded publication The Paper, 3days director and cofounder Signe Byrdal Terenziani explains that the theme is about honouring individual expression and celebrating one-of-a-kind originals in reflection of a deep-felt desire for a world that is more caring, conscious and inclusive.
I took part in one day of festivities. I saw many really nice design objects and furniture designs, but I also saw a lot of things that gave me pause – products that take more from the world than they give.
I mean, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know that we cannot not simply use resources because we feel like it and because the result looks great.
In my book, design is primarily about solving a task.
A design is shaped and developed with the purpose of being duplicated and being helpful to many. From this perspective, I have some reservations about this year’s theme.
I am all for caring and inclusive solutions – and if the originals are the ones who are driving design, product development and production, then, yes please, let’s have more originals (as in single-minded nerds).
However, in my opinion, the focus on individual expression belongs in the realm of art or craft. And in case anyone has any doubt, it takes at least as much originality and knowledge – if not more – to design a product suitable for mass production as it does to create a bespoke design.
Above all, it involves focusing on the many users, rather than on oneself or on one individual.
I am a huge fan of artistic objects. I love crafts and decorative arts – in the sense of small workshop-based serial productions – and I love it when design, crafts and art inspire each other, as the disciplines have, thankfully, done for generations and continue to do today.
Success requires dedication and mutual respect between maker/designer and manufacturer.
These topics, and many others, came up in my conversation with designer Birgitte Due Madsen in Bookazine 10 – I have put an excerpt online here.
During my 1dayofdesign, I ran into Birgitte at Pakhus 11. For the past five months, she has been employed by 3daysofdesign and had nothing but praise for the organization and for her job as an area manager for the Amerikakaj neighbourhood in Copenhagen’s Østerbro district.
We talked about putting dedication and commitment into what you do – she and the rest of the team do that, so does Signe Byrdal Terenziani, and so do many of the exhibitors who were gathered in Pakhus 11, including Toni, whom I wrote about in Bookazine 7 (you can read an excerpt from the article here).
In the same district, I saw furniture and interior design details by Japanese Time & Style.
Apropos my heading, here is my List – which, had I spent three days, would probably have been longer.
1dayofdesign highlights
The most elegant experience: hands down, Time & Style – not because their design is spectacular, on the contrary, but because it is so exceptionally beautifully done. Their exhibition was also coherent and convincing – a well-rounded universe.
One highly relevant contribution: Birgit Marie Østerby’s project. She was part of Peach Corner’s exhibition Functional Clay. You can read more about Birgit Marie Østerby in Bookazine 10.
Briefly put, Birgit collects white porcelain services that others have long since tired of and uses beautiful glazes to give the porcelain a second shot at love.
An important reminder: Boris Berlin’s exhibition, which was also a launch event for the book Boris Berlin – Dialogues on Form. The exhibition presented selected designs from the past 40 years, including a baggage trolley, designed for Copenhagen Airport in 1990, presented side by side with chairs designed for GUBI, HAY, MUUTO, Fritz Hansen and Eva Solo, among others.
A reminder that good design is not just decorative but is about balancing form, function and production requirements – with a view to enhancing everyday life for many.
A happy reunion: re-encountering the weaving mill Kjellerup Væveri, which I wrote about in Bookazine 2 (you can read the article here), and the chair F51 from 1920, designed by the former director of the Bauhaus school Walter Gropius.
The chair was revitalized in 2019 and again in 2023 by my friend the German designer Katrin Greiling for Tecta.
In her most recent update, she used fabrics from both Kvadrat and Kjellerup Væveri – from the latter, a textile designed by Hanne Vedel. To highlight the revisited design, Kjellerup presented the chair in several different versions during 3daysofdesign.
You can read my article about Hanne Vedel in Bookazine 6, which you can buy here.
Community was the focus of Isabel Berglund’s presentation at the Danish Art Workshops, which had several interesting material-based exhibitions and exhibitors – including a community knitting performance titled Silhouettes of Women in the Wind, designed by Isabel Berglund. Working with design can also involve working with processes and interaction.
The piece itself was produced at the Danish Art Workshops, while the performance element – an act of cocreation – was carried out by knitters who had signed up via social media to contribute to Women in the Wind.
The longest queue was at the café Studio x Kitchen, where The Table Project in collaboration with the Japanese brand 1616/Arita launched cups designed by the late Richard Manz. I never made it all the way to the door, but judging from what I saw through the window, the launch involved two beautiful cups, one in two colours, one in three.
Speaking of Manz: ceramic artist Bodil Manz, Richard Manz’s widow, who is known for her exceptionally delicate porcelain cylinders, showed powerful clay sculptures in geometric shapes at Galleri MøllerWitt. The gallery also presented works by Bodil and Richard’s daughter Cecilie Manz – who was also present elsewhere in town, including at Peach Corner and the Danish Art Workshops.
In the next issue of the HÅNDVÆRK bookazine, which comes out in September, you can meet Cecilie Manz.
This year’s bonus: Hotel Kanalhuset, in the Christianshavn district, acted as a temporary showroom for several international brands, which gave me an occasion to swing by.
It is a wonderful place – just as lovely as Lennart and Sus Lajboschitz’s other hotel, Hornbækhus, which I recently stayed at.
The interiors of both hotels are designed by Sus Lajboschitz, who runs the interior design firm Een København, in a style that is lightyears away from the somewhat trivial, unengaging and very predictable Scandinavian ‘luxury hotel style’ that has expanded deep into people’s private homes.
Both hotels are inclusive and invite you to join the community at the long table but also to indulge in yoga, morning singalong and knitting and crocheting meets – among other activities.
Listen
Det er næppe undgået din opmærksomhed, at København igen har dannet rammen om 3daysofdesign.
Jeg glæder mig over at bo i et land, hvor design indgår i fundamentet. Men…
Årets tema er Keep it Real, og direktør og medstifter Signe Byrdal Terenziani uddyber i Bo Bedres annonceudgivelse The Paper, at temaet er en hyldest til det individuelle og til unikke originaler. Det afspejler et dybt ønske om en verden, som er mere omsorgsfuld og inkluderende.
Jeg deltog i festlighederne én dag. Jeg har set mange fine designobjekter og møbler, men også meget, som vækker min bekymring – produkter, der tager mere fra verden, end de giver.
Jeg mener: Hvis ikke du har levet under en sten, har du allerede forstået, at vi ikke uhæmmet kan tillade os at forbruge ressourcer, bare fordi vi har lyst, og fordi det ser skønt ud.
I min bog handler design primært om at løse en opgave.
Et stykke design er formgivet og produktudviklet, så det kan multipliceres og være til gavn for mange. Set i det lys er jeg ikke helt vild med årets tema.
Ja tak til omsorgsfuldt og inkluderende – og hvis originalerne er dem, som designer, produktudvikler og producerer, så tak gerne flere originaler (læs: nørder).
Hvorimod fokus på det individuelle, i min optik, hører hjemme i kunstens eller kunsthåndværkets verden. Og skulle nogen være i tvivl, så kræver det mindst lige så meget originalitet og viden – om ikke mere – at formgive et produkt, som kan holde til masseproduktion, som det kræver at lave bespoke design, som det hedder på nudansk.
Frem for alt kræver det, at man ikke har fokus på sig selv eller enkeltindividet, men på de mange brugere.
Jeg elsker kunstneriske objekter. Jeg elsker kunsthåndværk og kunstindustri – forstået som små værksteds-serieproduktioner – og jeg elsker, når design, kunsthåndværk og kunst krydsbefrugter hinanden, som disciplinerne heldigvis har gjort gennem generationer og stadig gør.
Skal det lykkes, forudsætter det dedikation og gensidig respekt mellem formgiver og producent.
Det og meget andet talte jeg med designer Birgitte Due Madsen om i Bookazine 10 – den artikel kan du læse et uddrag af online her.
På min 1dayofdesign løb jeg på Birgitte i Pakhus 11. Hun har de seneste fem måneder været ansat af 3daysofdesign og havde kun lovord til overs for organisationen og for sit job som areamanager for Amerikakaj-distriktet.
Vi talte om at gøre sig umage – det gør hun og resten af teamet, og det gør Signe Byrdal Terenziani, og det gør mange af de udstillere, som var samlet i Pakhus 11 – herunder Toni, som jeg skrev om i Bookazine 7 (du kan kan læse et uddrag af artiklen her).
I samme distrikt så jeg møbler og indretningsdetaljer fra japanske Time & Style.
Apropos overskriften Listen
– som, hvis jeg havde brugt tre dage, nok havde været længere.
1dayofdesigns…
mest elegante oplevelse var ubetinget Time & Style – ikke fordi deres design er spektakulært, tværtimod, men fordi det er så ualmindeligt smukt udført. Deres udstilling var desuden helstøbt og overbevisende – et helt univers.
meget relevant var også servicen fra Birgit Marie Østerby. Hun var en del af Peach Corners udstilling Functional Clay. Birgit Marie Østerby kan du læse mere om i Bookazine 10.
Kort fortalt indsamler Birgit hvidt porcelænsservice, som andre for længst er blevet trætte af, og ved hjælp af smukke glasurer giver hun porcelænet en chance mere for at blive elsket.
vigtige påmindelse var Boris Berlins udstilling, som samtidig fungerede som lanceringsevent for bogen Boris Berlin – Dialogues on Form. Udstillingen viste udvalgte arbejder fra de sidste 40 år og lod blandt andet en bagagetrolley, tegnet til Københavns Lufthavn i 1990, optræde side om side med stole designet for blandt andre GUBI, HAY, MUUTO, Fritz Hansen og Eva Solo.
En påmindelse om, at godt design ikke bare er til pynt, men handler om at få form, funktion og produktionshensyn til at gå op i en højere enhed – for at forbedre hverdagen for mange mennesker.
glædelige gensyn var et gensyn med Kjellerup Væveri, som jeg skrev om i Bookazine 2 (den artikel kan du læse her), og med stolen F51 fra 1920, som er tegnet af den tidligere direktør for Bauhausskolen Walter Gropius.
Stolen blev revitaliseret i 2019 og igen i 2023 af min ven, den tyske designer Katrin Greiling, for virksomheden Tecta.
I sin seneste opdatering har hun anvendt tekstiler fra både Kvadrat og Kjellerup Væveri – fra sidstnævnte et tekstil tegnet af Hanne Vedel. Stolen blev i den anledning udstillet i flere variationer hos Kjellerup under 3daysofdesign.
Min artikel om Hanne Vedel kan du læse i Bookazine 6, som kan købes her.
fællesskab som var i fokus hos Isabel Berglund på Statens Værksteder for Kunst, hvor der var flere interessante materialebaserede udstillinger og udstillere – herunder en strik-performance med titlen Silhouettes of Women in the Wind, designet af Isabel Berglund. At arbejde med design kan også være at arbejde med processer og interaktion.
Selve værket er produceret på Statens Værksteder, mens performancedelen – et stykke samskabelse – blev udført af mennesker, som via sociale medier havde meldt sig til at bidrage ved at strikke videre på Women in the Wind.
den længste kø oplevede jeg foran caféen Studio x Kitchen, hvor The Table Project i samarbejde med japanske 1616/Arita lancerede kopper tegnet af afdøde Richard Manz. Jeg nåede aldrig frem til døren, men at dømme ud fra det, jeg så gennem vinduet, er der tale om to meget fine kopper i henholdsvis to og tre farver.
Tale om Manz – keramiker Bodil Manz, enke efter ovenstående og kendt for sine sarte porcelænscylindere, udstillede kraftfulde lerskulpturer i geometriske former i Galleri MøllerWitt. Her udstillede også Richards og Bodils datter Cecilie Manz som også var at finde flere andre steder i byen, blandt andet hos Peach Corner og på Statens Værksteder for Kunst.
I næste nummer af HÅNDVÆRK bookazine, som udkommer til september, kan du møde Cecilie Manz.
årets bonus – Fordi Hotel Kanalhuset, som ligger på Christianshavn, slog dørene op som showroom for en række internationale brands, fik jeg lejlighed til at svinge forbi.
Det er et vidunderligt sted – præcis lige så skønt som Lennart og Sus Lajboschitz’ andet hotel, Hornbækhus, som jeg boede på for nylig.
Hotellerne er indrettet af Sus Lajboschitz, som driver indretningsvirksomheden Een København, i en stil, der er lysår fra den efterhånden noget trivielle, uvedkommende og meget forudsigelige skandinaviske “luksushotelstil”, som har bredt sig langt ind i folks privatsfære.
Begge hoteller er inkluderende og inviterer både til fællesskab omkring langbordet, men også til yoga, morgensang og strikke- og hæklekomsammen – blandt andet.
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