Timely to the end of our rantings against the current state of Danish design - the Danish Design Centre in Copenhagen recently hosted the Danish Design Prize awards 2010/11 In his introduction the Danish Design Centre CEO Christian Scherfig asks " ... what is good design in the 21st century ?" The DDCs answer is 11 prize winners from 17 nominations in 4 categories. Whereas most would have also been good design in the 20th century, and a couple even in the 19th, all of the featured designs
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Although trained as a sculpture Henning Koppel is probably best remembered for his work as a silversmith; be it designing jewelry, cutlery services or other table and household wares. Henning Koppel also designed lamps, and Pandul have now re-issued his 1972 creation Bubi. Originally produced in brass by Louis Poulsen, the 2010 Pandul re-issue comes in chrome, an aesthetic nod towards Koppel's mastery with silver. What we particularly like about Bubi is that you can use it as a pendant
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For reasons that have always escaped us Finn Juhl remains one of the forgotten men of Danish design. Or maybe we just move in the wrong circles. Either way we were delighted when last year Onecollection re-issued Finn Juhl's 1951 "Baker Sofa" and are even more pleased that they have now re-introduced the matching Cocktail coffee table. Because it is just delightful. In addition Onecollection have also re-issued a Finn Juhl desk, Nyhavn; so-called because Juhl used such desks in his office
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We don't want to take anything away from Erik Wester's work; but it's saying something when one of the best new products we found at CORE 10 was from a Norwegian who studied in London and now lives and works in Amsterdam. Standing Task Light by Erik Wester In principle the idea isn't new. One of the major problems with lighting, and in particular with standard lamps, is achieving a useful, directable illumination. Your granny's standard lamp shone downwards - the light emitted was perhaps
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As already stated our visit to Copenhagen and CORE 10 was without question one of our more disappointing trips. Largely because of the complete lack of imagination, innovation or indeed quality that we found. It's certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life. What do you mean? Well, at one point, you've got it, then you lose it. And it's gone forever. All walks of life. Georgie Best, for example, had it, lost it. Or David Bowie or Danish design. Danish design. Some of their modern stuff's
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For one of Denmark's most celebrated designers Verner Panton spent considerably little time in Denmark; and many most of his celebrated works were realised abroad. That said Copenhagen is full of reminders of Verner Panton, his life, his work and his passions. And so during our brief visit to the Danish capital we took the opportunity to meet up with one his Vitra Panton Chairs for a guided tour of Verner Panton's Copenhagen. Our tour began, as did Panton's association with Copenhagen, at
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While others amused themselves at Tendence in Frankfurt, we headed of to Copenhagen and CODE 10. We're not saying that was a mistake; but we're equally unconvinced that it was the best idea we've ever had. And we've had some really poor ideas. "You're not getting any younger, Denmark. The world is changing, design is changing, even materials are changing. You can't stay in here all day dreaming about bent plastic and Arnold Jacobsen." "It's Arne Jacobsen" Despite the promises in advance that
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