Factsheet Denmark Danish Designdenmark.dk/.../Lifestyle/Furniture-Industrial-design-2008-en.pdf ·...

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Design does not merely exist in itself – design reflects society. This applies to clas- sic Danish design from the 1950s and 1960s as well as to Danish design in the new millennium. As society changes, so does its design. Today’s design concept has been expanded in a way inconceivable to the designers of earlier generations. The devel- opment has happened as the world changed, with new technologies, new economies, new demands and new oppor- tunities. In the past, we exclusively regarded design as the shaping of products. That is no longer the case. Nonetheless, products are still a cornerstone in design and in the following sections Danish design will be presented on the basis of both products and the designers behind them. Danish graphic design and communication is a separate chapter, which will be presented at a later stage. The “heroic” period Today, Danish design is flourishing. The new generation has gained a perspective on the classic period. The young designers JANUARY 2008 FURNITURE AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGN Factsheet Denmark Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark Arne Jacobsen’s original interior design from 1960 has been preserved in Room 606 at the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen, also known as the SAS Hotel. Manufacturer: Fritz Hansen. Imprint. Design: Foersom & Hiort-Lorenzen, 2005. Manufacturer: Lammhults. Photo: lamm- hults.se.

Transcript of Factsheet Denmark Danish Designdenmark.dk/.../Lifestyle/Furniture-Industrial-design-2008-en.pdf ·...

Design does not merely exist in itself –design reflects society. This applies to clas-sic Danish design from the 1950s and1960s as well as to Danish design in thenew millennium. As society changes, sodoes its design.

Today’s design concept has beenexpanded in a way inconceivable to thedesigners of earlier generations. The devel-opment has happened as the worldchanged, with new technologies, neweconomies, new demands and new oppor-tunities.

In the past, we exclusively regarded

design as the shaping of products. That isno longer the case. Nonetheless, productsare still a cornerstone in design and in thefollowing sections Danish design will bepresented on the basis of both productsand the designers behind them. Danishgraphic design and communication is aseparate chapter, which will be presentedat a later stage.

The “heroic” period

Today, Danish design is flourishing. Thenew generation has gained a perspectiveon the classic period. The young designers

JANUARY 2008

FURNITURE AND INDUSTRIALDESIGN

Factsheet Denmark

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark

Arne Jacobsen’s original interior design from1960 has been preserved in Room 606 at theRoyal Hotel in Copenhagen, also known as theSAS Hotel. Manufacturer: Fritz Hansen.

Imprint. Design: Foersom & Hiort-Lorenzen,2005. Manufacturer: Lammhults. Photo: lamm-hults.se.

regard the pioneers with respect – but areable to stand on their own feet.

A presentation of Danish design has tostart with its breakthrough on the interna-tional scene after World War II. A fortu-nate combination of internal and externalcircumstances led to a Golden Age, inwhich Danish furniture achieved particu-lar success, but silver, ceramics, glass andtextiles also experienced a fertile period.

A breakthrough such as the classicDanish one can only occur if the talent isavailable. And it was! However, talent isnot enough – special growth conditionsare required for the talent to thrive anddevelop.

Three circumstances were particularlycrucial to the success of Danish design inthe post-war period. The first was the lateindustrialisation of Denmark. A livingcraft tradition with high quality standardswas allowed to develop slowly and gradu-

ally into industrial production, closelymonitored by the architects and mastercabinet makers of the time.

The second was the world’s desire tosee and experience something new after awar which had left large parts of Europein ruins. The Danish light wood furniturewith references to Nordic nature and alook that was sometimes based on classicfurniture types but without the style ele-ments of former periods soon gained afoothold internationally.

Thirdly, Danish design had room forthe individualists. This trend began toemerge in the 1930s, when the architectand critic Poul Henningsen scrutinisedsociety and agitated for freedom, respectfor the individual and a democratic,

humanist view of life, which was ratherunusual in the Nordic countries at thetime. These attitudes gradually becamewidely accepted in Denmark.

The soil had thus been fertilised whenthe major talents appeared. The talentswere so to speak given a free rein andarchitects and furniture designers foundenthusiastic collaborators among mastercabinet makers and other small produc-tion companies.

The establishment of the FurnitureSchool at the Royal Danish Academy ofFine Arts played a considerable part in thedevelopment of furniture design. HereProfessor Kaare Klint represented Functio-nalism with studies of the proportionsbetween people and objects. Klint has hadgreater influence on Danish furnituredesign than any other designer. His viewsof the form and function of furniture haveinfluenced several generations of Danish

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PH Artichoke. Design: Poul Henningsen, 1958.Manufacturer: Louis Poulsen.

show the way? Is the letter from the local councileasy to understand? Copenhagen Port Poolsfrom 2002 with the distinctive lifeguard tower isa good example of what untraditional thinkingand good design can do for the city’s residents.Photo: Lars Amelang.

Public design: Everything we encounter in thepublic space as citizens and users is charac-terised by design. In the last 20-25 years,Denmark has created public design at an inter-national level within several fields – especiallythe transport sector. But public design is muchbroader: For instance, how is the urban spacefurnished? How do we experience street androad lighting? Does the signage at our hospitals

CH 07. Design: Hans J. Wegner, 1963.Manufacturer: Carl Hansen & Søn. Photo: larsenform.com.

designers and continue to do so today.Nonetheless, the Danes remained

slightly sceptical about Functionalism,which therefore never had a completebreakthrough. Hans J. Wegner respectedthe Klint approach, but struck out a pathfor himself. Like several other furnituredesigners at the time, Wegner trained as acabinet maker and combined extraordi-nary craftsmanship with a unique sense ofform, resulting in a series of chairs whichmany regard as unsurpassable.

As the head of the cooperative FDBfurniture design studio, Børge Mogensendesigned a furniture series aimed at theaverage Danish family. It was simple androbust, and could be combined accordingto the family’s needs. In addition, Mogen-sen designed several characteristic chairswhich are still in production, includingthe Spanish Chair.

Another individualist was Finn Juhl,

who represented the artistic freedom witha personal idiom and chairs which were atonce harmonious sculptures and tradition-al seating furniture.

Concurrently, industrialised furnituremanufacturing developed in the USA,where the best-known products wereCharles Eames’s chairs of moulded woodand steel pipes. Eames’s chairs inspiredArne Jacobsen to design the now world-famous Ant chair of bent, laminatedwood from 1952 – Denmark’s first exam-ple of an industrially manufactured chairin the true sense of the word and fully inline with what the international furnituretrend was producing. Arne Jacobsen wasalready recognised as an architect, espe-cially abroad, but now he became equallyfamous as a furniture designer.

Danish design aroused an immediateresponse in the international press –among other things due to the large

Scandinavian design exhibitions whichtoured the world.

Poul Kjærholm, Verner Panton andNanna Ditzel were other designers –slightly younger than the post-war masters– who made a strong impression in thefollowing years.

Unlike other Danish designers, PoulKjærholm chose to work mainly in steeland leather. Kjærholm was inspired by theinternational style and worked with anuncompromising perfectionism, whichhas made him one of the leading Danishfurniture designers in recent time.

However, no other designer has beenmore imaginative or different than VernerPanton – today a role model for manyyoung designers. Panton found littleunderstanding of his ideas in the Danishdesign environment of his time. Hetherefore left Denmark and became aninfluential designer in 1960s Europe.

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Urban furniture: The public space needs manydifferent kinds of furniture: Benches, advertisingpillars, rubbish bins, street lighting, parkingmetres – to mention a few. The individual ele-ment has to meet extensive requirements as domaintenance and protection against vandalismand theft. It is a challenge to place each elementwhere it is needed and combine the layout withthe technical standards applying to the public

space. The public bench is a popular designobject. City Bench, designed by Nanna Ditzel.Photo: The Dzine Partnership.

Chieftain Chair. Design: Finn Juhl, 1949. Manufacturer: Hansen & Sørensen. Photo: onecollection.com.

PK 22. Design: Poul Kjærholm, 1956. Manufacturer: Fritz Hansen.

Spanish Chair. Design: Børge Mogensen, 1958. Manufacturer: Fredericia Furniture.

Ant Chair. Design: Arne Jacobsen, 1952. Manufacturer: Fritz Hansen. Photo: arne-jacobsen.com.

Panton Chair. Design: Verner Panton, 1967. Manufacturer: Vitra. Photo: paustian.com.

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3PART (established 1998) is one of the younger generation’s leading design companies. Works strate-gically with user-driven industrial design.

Mathias Bengtsson (born 1971), designer, has bro-ken with the Danish design tradition. Experimentswith new technologies and materials with originalityand exceptional talent.

Bernt (born 1937), furniture designer, takes theDanish Functionalist tradition as his starting pointwith an analytic approach. Has created a number ofdistinctive design exhibitions as well as furniture.

Christian Bjørn (born 1944), industrial designer, is apioneer within Danish industrial design. His workincludes large systems and projects within transportdesign, but also smaller, consumer-oriented prod-ucts.

Louise Campbell (born 1970), industrial designer, isone of the finest innovators of Danish furnituredesign. Blazes her own trail and experiments withfree, unconstrained forms and innovative materialchoices.

CBD (established 1974) is a multi-disciplinary indus-trial design company with international focus. Wasone of the first to look towards Asia and has officesin China and Vietnam.

Designit (established 1991) is currently the largestdesign company in Denmark. Works with focus onoverall solutions and is frequently involved in theDanish design debate.

Nanna Ditzel (1923-2005), designer, experimentedwith new technologies and innovative room installa-tions at an early stage. Has created a range of furni-ture in an organic idiom as well as jewellery and tex-tiles.

Susse Fischer (born 1949), architect, works on theborderline between design and architecture withproducts and major projects reflecting an unerringbalance between aesthetics and functionality.

Christian Flindt (born 1972), furniture designer,belongs to the avantgarde in today’s young Danishfurniture design. Challenges the traditional idiom andcreates furniture with a dramatic and original look.

Foersom & Hiort-Lorenzen (established 1977) is a 30-year old collaboration, which has resulted in a seriesof cogent furniture, worked out to the smallest detail.Focuses on sustainability and prioritises experimentsand new materials.

Poul Henningsen (1894-1967), architect, made hismark with his first mass-produced lamp, PH 5/5, in1926. Designed a number of special lighting systemsfor large buildings, all based on his innovative theoriesabout perception and lighting.

Knud Holscher (born 1930), architect, producesdesign solutions characterised by functionality andsimplification of often complex products. Has manyinternational companies among his customers.

Arne Jacobsen (1902-1971), architect, representedModernism and imbued his buildings and otherworks with great originality and an idiom which soonplaced him in the international design elite.

Georg Jensen (1866-1935), silversmith, established amodest silversmith’s workshop in Copenhagen in1904, which soon became a focus for the most impor-tant artists of the time. Was described as the finest sil-ver artist in the world for three centuries when he died.

Jacob Jensen (born 1926), industrial designer, createda series of innovative products for Bang & Olufsen,which launched a new era within international hi-fiproduction and today are found in museums all overthe world.

Ole Jensen (born 1958), designer, experiments withnew materials in a personal idiom. Has created manyinnovative articles for everyday use.

Finn Juhl (1912-1989), furniture architect, is one of themost highly regarded Danish furniture architects in aninternational perspective. His furniture is charac-terised by its sculptural and curved forms, very differ-ent from Danish Functionalism.

either as an oasis or as a setting for communityevents. The furniture can be magnificent or mod-est, but two elements are essential: Somewhereto sit – in the shadow of a tree. An open spacecan also be established in a park. Photo: TineHarden.

Urban open spaces: Marketplaces, squares andparks – the urban open spaces – play an impor-tant part in all cities. In the old days, the market-place was the town’s trading centre, where peo-ple met to buy, sell and hear the latest news.Today, almost all trading has moved indoors, butthe marketplace and square remain just asimportant. The open spaces serve as muchneeded breathing spaces for the citizens – used

Who is who in Danish furniture and industrial design?

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Visual identity: Visual identity is a means ofhighlighting and controlling the values govern-ing a company. For what does the company wantto be known? Which signals does it want to sendto its surroundings? The business world has along tradition of using graphic design to commu-nicate and profile itself. The public sector haslearned from the private sector. Most publicinstitutions today have a visual identity and a

design programme as part of their communica-tion with the citizens and the rest of the world.Photo: The visual identity of the Danish Ministryof Foreign Affairs, designed by Kontrapunkt.

Poul Kjærholm (1929-1980), furniture architect, wasinspired by the Bauhaus school, but went beyond it.Has left behind pieces of furniture that are landmarksin the history of Danish furniture design, made of steel,marble, glass, leather and, in his later years, wood.

Komplot (established 1987) is a design company withan international outlook, which especially in recentyears has experimented with a new idiom and newmaterials in its furniture design.

Henning Koppel (1918-1981), sculptor, began workingfor Georg Jensen in 1945 and with his both simpleand bold forms launched a new epoch within Danishsilver. Has also designed porcelain for Bing & Grøn-dahl.

David Lewis (born 1939), industrial designer, in hiscapacity of chief designer for Bang & Olufsen and inhis collaborations with other international compa-nies, has created a union of function and aesthetics,which has resulted in many prestigious design awards.

Erik Magnussen (born 1940), industrial designer, isone of Denmark’s most important designers, whoseproducts are always based on an original idea andcharacterised by a strict, minimalist idiom combinedwith functionality and user-friendliness.

Cecilie Manz (born 1972), industrial designer, is oneof the leading figures in contemporary Danishdesigns. Extends the understanding of the functionand aesthetics of design and challenges establishedconcepts of what design can and should do.

Grethe Meyer (born 1918), architect, has createdsome of the best-known classics of Danish design onthe basis of scientific analyses and with an infalliblesense of form, for companies such as Royal Copen-hagen and Georg Jensen.

Børge Mogensen (1914-1972), furniture architect,headed the cooperative FDB in 1942-1950. Belongedto the Golden Age of Danish design and furtherdeveloped a number of well-known international fur-niture types with great success.

Ursula Munch-Petersen (born 1937), designer, workswith one-off objects and sculptural ceramics. Hasdeveloped functional articles for everyday use, withnew techniques and materials, most recently thepopular Ursula service for Royal Copenhagen.

Ole Palsby (born 1935), designer, transfers user-friendliness from the professional kitchen to thehome through studies of form and function. Hasdesigned products of international format.

Verner Panton (1926-1998), architect, is the leadingshowman of Danish design. Internationally famousand recognised for his original and experimental fur-niture, lighting and revolutionary interior decoration.

Pelikan Design (established 1978) had an interna-tional outlook at an early stage and is today a leadingindustrial design company, focusing especially on fur-niture design.

Søren Ulrik Petersen (born 1961), furniture designer,takes the classic Danish furniture tradition as hisstarting point and combines humour and originalitywith a practical and functional approach.

Kasper Salto (born 1967), furniture designer, belongsto the new generation of Danish furniture designers.Builds on Danish furniture design heritage with worksset to become Danish classics of the future.

Anders Smith (born 1962), industrial designer, wasinternationally oriented at an early stage with severalyears’ residence abroad as design manager forPhilips. Now works in Copenhagen, focusing onstrategic consultancy and user-focused design.

Strand+Hvass (established 1998) prioritise experi-ments with forms and materials, resulting in solutionsand products that surprise and renew the Danish furniture tradition.

Jan Trägårdh (1931-2006), industrial designer, hasbeen very important to the development of industrialdesign in Denmark. Has designed many pioneeringindustrial products, using Functionalism as his start-ing point.

Hans J. Wegner (1914-2007), furniture architect, isprobably the best known of all Danish furniture archi-tects. He was especially important as the chairdesigner par excellence and designed many of themost beautiful and original chairs in the world.

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Inspired by among others VernerPanton, Nanna Ditzel started her longcareer in the 1950s with bold and colour-ful complete environments and new waysof living. After several years in England,Nanna Ditzel returned to Denmark in1986 and in the following years createdfurniture with a strong personal look,which have helped renew Danish furni-ture design.

Among the designers of the time,Gunnar Aagaard Andersen had a specialposition. He was the artist andRenaissance man, who as a designer wasprimarily known for his polyether chairfrom 1964, whose extreme look hasinspired today’s young Danish designers.

Danish furniture design 1970-1980

Danish furniture design struggled to

maintain its leading position in the 1970sand 1980s. The world had changed.Industrialisation had taken hold and wasexpanding rapidly. Light Danish andScandinavian design had many followers,but many others called for something thatwas more in keeping with the times andwith the suddenly exploding youth cul-ture.

The international design scene wascharacterised by fierce competition andactivity – especially within furnituredesign. In the 1980s, Post-Modernismwas introduced and, in parallel, theMemphis movement in Milan. Slightlylater, the High Tech style and other trendsfollowed. Danish restraint and focus onfunction therefore struggled in the inter-national competition. A few Danishdesigners hesitantly attempted the newtrends, but most found it difficult toeither develop their heritage or liberatethemselves from it.

Danish furniture design therefore expe-rienced little renewal in these years andmanufacturers and producers likewiseshowed little response to or interest inexperimentation. The talents of the timewere relatively isolated compared with thefertile climate surrounding the pioneers inthe 1950s.

Industrial design

Danish furniture design may have had arelatively quiet time in the 1970s and1980s but industrial design, by contrast,was very active.

Concurrently with the internationalindustrialisation, the first industrial designtrends appeared in Europe and the USA.In Germany, the Bauhaus school wasestablished in 1919, combining art andtechnology with functionality and a sim-ple idiom. In the early 1940s, a kind ofstreamlined Modernism emerged in theUSA. Here design had to be spectacular–“styling” had to seduce and tempt peopleto buy.

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colours. The urban floor can be a work of art,like Amagertorv in Copenhagen created by theartist Bjørn Nørgaard. However, less will do, aslong as attention is paid to the context and theconnection with the surrounding buildings andopen spaces. Photo: Troels Heien.

Urban floor: The floor is an element of the urbanspace which is often overlooked. Chance andshort-term financial considerations have oftenbeen allowed to determine the nature of the sur-face. However, the urban floor should have afunction and help clarify traffic flows to bothpedestrians and drivers besides having an archi-tectonic effect. The ideal surface is based onvariation of materials, textures, patterns and

Trinidad. Design: Nanna Ditzel, 1993.Manufacturer: Fredericia Furniture. Photo:nanna-ditzel-design.dk.

Polyether chair. Design: Gunnar AagaardAndersen, 1964. Photo: Pernille Klemp.

X-line. Design: Niels Jørgen Haugesen, 1977.Manufacturer: Bent Krogh. – This award-winningchair is the closest Danish design gets to HighTech. Photo: bent-krogh.dk.

Margrethe Bowl. Design: Bernadotte & BjørnIndustridesign, 1950. Manufacturer: Rosti.Photo: rosti-housewares.dk

In Denmark, the values which hadcharacterised the Danish post-war furni-ture – focus on the user, respect for mate-rials and attention to details – also becameprevalent within industrial design. It wasnatural for the industrial designers to findinspiration in especially Functionalismand Bauhaus. However, as already men-tioned, Danish Functionalism was “organ-ic”, which was very different from the oftenstrict and dogmatic idiom of Bauhaus.

Bernadotte & Bjørn was the firstdesign studio in Denmark and Scandinaviato specialise in industrial design. Thedesign studio was established already in1950 and employed several of the latermost successful Danish designers. Amongother things, Bernadotte & Bjørn designedoffice machines, domestic appliances, fur-niture and other functional articles foreveryday use, with the Margrethe Bowl asone of the most successful and long-lived.

The number of design studios grew inparallel with the industrial developmentand the emergence of new manufacturingmethods and materials. The success ofDanish furniture design inspired a num-ber of companies to enter into collabora-

tion with industrial designers, includingBang & Olufsen. In collaboration withfirst Bernadotte & Bjørn and later JacobJensen and David Lewis, B&O translatedtechnological development into superla-tive design and entertainment electronics.

Urban lighting: Urban lighting forms a signifi-cant part of the urban stage design. The lightingmust not steal from buildings and open spaces,but has to stage manage and dramatise the city,create atmosphere and experience. At the sametime, the lighting must help make the city safefor those who use it after dark. However, theremust be a plan for the use of lighting – for thereare many interested parties. It is an art to light

the urban space and to combine facade lightingand atmospheric lighting. Aggressive commer-cial lighting frightens the customers away. Usedcorrectly, lighting helps give the city a specialidentity. Photo: tivoli.dk.

Thermo. Design: Erik Magnussen, 1976.Manufacturer: Stelton.

Beogram 4000. Design: Jacob Jensen, 1974.Manufacturer: Bang & Olufsen. Photo: IbSørensen.

Beosystem 2500. Design: David Lewis, 1991.Manufacturer: Bang & Olufsen. Photo: IbSørensen.

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needed. This is particularly true in airports,where the travellers are especially dependent onfast and accurate information. The signage inCopenhagen Airport, designed by MollerupDesignlab. Photo: cph.dk.

Signage: Signage is one of the most importantelements of a building’s or city’s furniture.Signage has many functions, which users takefor granted. Signage must inform, advise, direct,highlight and at times prohibit. The messagesmust be visible, easy to read, and understand-able – complicated messages can constitute asafety risk. The art is to limit the number ofsigns and to place them exactly where they are

Copenhagen. Design: Grethe Meyer, 1991.Manufacturer: Georg Jensen.

Opus carafe. Design: Ole Palsby, 2006.Manufacturer: Rosendahl.

Lemon squeezer. Design: Ole Jensen, 1997.Manufacturer: Royal Copenhagen.

Mussel Mega. Design: Karen Kjældgård-Larsen,2002. Manufacturer: Royal Copenhagen. – A young designer’s bold enlargement of theblue fluted service from 1775 has led to interna-tional success.

Ursula. Design: Ursula Munch-Petersen, 1992.Manufacturer: Royal Copenhagen.

Corsinel underwear for stoma patients.

Design: Astrid Krogh and Annette Meyer, 2004.Manufacturer: Coloplast.

NovoLet insulin pen. Design: Steve McGugan,1989. Manufacturer: Novo Nordisk.

Ultrasound scanner. Design: Anders Smith,2004. Manufacturer: Philips.

Microsound Pilot hearing aid. Design: Designit,2003. Manufacturer: Microsound.

The company Stelton followed suit byestablishing collaborations with first ArneJacobsen and later Erik Magnussen, whosevacuum jug broke with all accepted ideasabout the look and function of vacuumjugs. Today, both Bang & Olufsen’s prod-ucts and Erik Magnussen’s vacuum jughave iconic status internationally.

Danish design’s focus on organicFunctionalism is also evident in tableware,where Grethe Meyer, Ole Palsby, UrsulaMunch-Petersen, Ole Jensen and manyothers have renewed the product field.

A special design field is medical tech-nology, where Danish designers in keep-ing with tradition focus on the dialoguewith the user. Here young design compa-nies such as 3PART, Designit and CBDcan be mentioned, as well as individualdesigners such as Steve McGugan andAnders Smith.

Overall, industrial design has played a

significant role in Danish industry for thepast fifty years. Many companies whichinitially mainly associated design withhomeware soon changed their opinionand today Danish industrial design coversthe entire spectrum of industriallydesigned products – from tea spoons viasophisticated measuring instruments toships and train sets.

The recently launched “Index: Award”,which is awarded biannually for productsand ideas that improve our lives, can beregarded as a further development of theuser focus of Danish design.

Danish furniture design today

During the 1990s, something new beganto happen in Danish furniture design.Groups of young designers were estab-lished, presenting a new, expressive, inter-nationally inspired idiom. Many regardedthese initiatives as ephemeral and found it

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Transport: In the battle for the train passengersof the future, comfort and travel time will beimportant features. Something extra is requiredfor public transport to replace private cars as thepreferred means of travel. In the 1990s, theDanish State Railways launched the IC3 train,which operates the length and breadth ofDenmark over bridges and through tunnels. IC3is a success and will be supplemented with the

new IC4 train in the near future. In 2002, theMetro introduced a new train type to Copen-hagen – the driver-less METRO train. Photo: AMetro station in Copenhagen, designed by KHRArchitects.

The Harbour Stage. Design: Susse Fischer andChristian Bjørn, 2005. – One of the world’s firstfloating mobile open air stages is found inCopenhagen Harbour. Photo: Mikkel Stenbæk.

d line. Design: Knud Holscher, 1972.Manufacturer: d line international.

Cheetah wheelchair for children. Design: 3PART,2004. Manufacturer: R82.

Flamingo T1. Design: Halskov & Dalsgaard, 2005.Manufacturer: Lightyears. – A combination ofinformality and functionalism is characteristic ofmuch contemporary Danish design.

difficult to take them seriously, calling formore direct successors to the classicDanish design.

However, the experiments and the newdesign were there to stay. The groupspaved the way for today’s Danish design-ers, who have successfully either devel-oped or broken with the traditionalDanish design idiom.

Simply put, there are today two trendswithin the new generation of Danish fur-niture designers and industrial designers.One is “wild” with pioneering design andan informal idiom using spectacular andsculptural forms. It is represented bydesigners such as Louise Campbell, Ma-thias Bengtsson, Christian Flindt, Sebas-tian Holmbäck and the Gopingponggroup.

The other is “disciplined”, with a clearbasis in the Danish design tradition in itsrespect for classic craft, yet sufficiently

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Some do. Photo: Movia’s bus stop in Copen-hagen, designed by Knud Holscher Design.

Bus stop: The bus stop must help making publictransport attractive. It must have a distinctiveidentity so that the traveller can easily spot itfrom a distance. It must provide shelter, it musthave a bench – long waits may occur – and easi-ly accessible information with understandablemessages. Information must be limited to essen-tials and not drown in “noise”. Basic require-ments, which many bus stops do not meet.

Veryround. Design: Louise Campbell, 2006.

Spun Chaise Lounge. Design: MathiasBengtsson, 2003.

Parts of a Rainbow. Design: Christian Flindt,2005.

Miss Tilde. Design: Gopingpong, 2005. –Somewhere to keep private memories by ayoung radical design studio.

Waves. Design: Anne-Mette Jensen and MortenErnst, 1994. Manufacturer: Erik Jørgensen. –Danish designers’ play with organic forms.

Plasma. Design: Erik Magnussen, 2005.Manufacturer: Engelbrechts. – Plasma provesthat vision and innovation are not restricted tothe new generation of Danish designers.

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bold to experiment with new technologyand new materials. It is represented bydesigners such as Søren Ulrik Petersen,Cecilie Manz, Kasper Salto, Hans Sand-gren Jakobsen, Christina Strand and NielsHvass.

Both trends have given Danish designand especially Danish furniture design thetalent and energy in short supply for sev-eral generations.

Danish designers are increasingly inter-

ested in sustainable solutions. An exampleis the chair Imprint designed by JohannesFoersom and Peter Hiort-Lorenzen in anenvironmentally friendly wood fibre mate-rial, which has set new standards for sus-tainability within Danish furniture design.

Danish design is not a uniform andunambiguous concept to the same extentas in the past, but has developed into a farbroader idiom than the famous style iconsfrom the 1940s and 1950s. The new gen-

eration has added humour and irony tothe traditional values. The influence ofFunctionalism is still seen, but the youngdesigners are characterised by a greatdegree of internationalisation, which con-tributes to developing and varying thespecial nature of Danish design. In addi-tion, the borderlines between design,architecture and craft are increasinglyfluid, which will contribute to the devel-opment in the coming years.

Bridges: Denmark is characterised by manywaterways, which require a special infrastruc-ture. Formerly the ferries connected the country.Today – with the current requirements for fasttraffic flow – bridges have often taken over this function, among others across the GreatBelt, where the beautiful and distinctive EastBridge, opened in 1998 and designed byDissing+Weitling, has virtually achieved the

status of a national monument. Photo: Dissing+Weitling.

Mosquito. Design: Rud Thygesen, 2000.Manufacturer: N. Roth Andersen. – A contempo-rary idiom by one of the veterans of Danishdesign.

Gallery. Design: Hans Sandgren Jakobsen, 1998.Manufacturer: Fredericia Furniture.

Gubi Chair. Design: Komplot, 2004.Manufacturer: Gubi.

Slow Chair. Design: Søren Ulrik Petersen, 2000.Manufacturer: PP Møbler.

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Furniture and industrial design

Factsheet Denmark. Published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairsof Denmark.Adress: Asiatisk Plads 2, DK-1448 Copenhagen K, Denmark.Telephone: +45 33 92 00 00. Fax: +45 32 54 05 33.E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.um.dkEditor: Flemming Axmark.Picture editor: Kirstine Fryd.

Translation: Siri Fischer Hansen. Design: Ole Jensen - ojdesign.Reproduction of the text, with or without acknowledgement, is permitted.Published January 2008.

ISBN 978-87-7667-831-9

New times – new concepts

In keeping with the international trends,there is greater focus on design inDenmark than ever before. Industry isincreasingly thinking strategically andunderstanding the importance of designto the companies’ business development.A contributory factor is the Danish gov-ernment’s commitment to design. In thelate 1990s, the Danish government wasone of the first in the world to define anactual design policy – an initiative whichin 2007 was followed up by the launch ofDesignDenmark as part of the generalDanish trade and industry policy.

At the same time, the design concepthas developed. Service design, interactiondesign and concept design are among theconcepts which are placing new demandson the designers and their ability to col-laborate and form networks with otherprofessions. As in other industrialisedcountries, the Danish design profession isengaged in adapting to and taking part in this new reality.

Birgitta CapetilloMA, Design Communications

Further InformationDenmark´s Official Web Sitewww.denmark.dk

Danish Design CentreH.C. Andersens Boulevard 27DK-1553 Copenhagen VTelephone: +45 33 69 33 69E-mail: [email protected]: www.ddc.dk

Danish DesignersKristianiagade 8DK-2100 Copenhagen ØTelephone: +45 33 13 72 30E-mail: [email protected]: www.danishdesigners.com

4-cast. Design: Strand+Hvass, 2006.Manufacturer: Four Design.

Caravaggio. Design: Cecilie Manz, 2005.Manufacturer: Lightyears.

Ice. Design: Kasper Salto, 2002. Manufacturer: Fritz Hansen.