New Works: Objects Of Copenhagen

What happens when design craft mixes with art and comes to life in a country with a strong design heritage? New works obviously. Or better yet: New Works - Object of Copenhagen. Creative Director of New Works Knut Bendik Humlevik presented a brand new collection of design items at the last Stockholm Furniture and Light Fair featuring some beautiful and sculptural design pieces for contemporary homes.

New Works is a Copenhagen based design brand that unites design craft and art and interprets pieces for the modern home in the context of the rich design heritage of Denmark. They collaborate with different international renown designers and add a new notion to the highly appraised repertoire of Scandinavian design.

The new Bowl Table Lamp designed by Knut Bendik Humlevik himself is one of my favorites. The toned glass bowl surrounds the light bulb and emits a smoky light while sitting on a base of raw copper creating an interesting contrast of materials. Other interesting pieces include the Pi-No-Pi-No vases made of glass and wood as well as the sculptural Kizu Table Lamp combining marble and acrylic, the former designed by Maija Puiskari and Tuukka Tujula, the latter by Lars Tornøe.

Which piece could move in with you? I think my choice would be the Bowl Table Lamp.

Photography via New Works

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From Place To Space: Copenhagen + Book

'Paris is always a good idea' - most of us know this famous quote by Audrey Hepburn. I totally agree with her. But I would add another quote: Copenhagen is always a good idea, too! I was lucky enough to travel several times to the Danish capital and get a better understanding of why Copenhagen seems to be the place for the happiest people on earth. These days I received a new book by my friend and fellow blogger of 'Amalie loves Denmark' where she wrapped up all her Copenhagen design tips on a 160 pages. Thus, I felt it's a good moment to revisit Copenhagen with you on the blog and peek into the new book 'Mein Kopenhagen'.

From a design blogger perspective, Copenhagen is an amazing city. You feel like design is an essence of life of the Danes and you literally bump into iconic Danish design pieces wherever you turn. But Copenhagen holds more for the visitor and local - it has a good size making it easy to explore and not overwhelming you, it has lots of beautiful neighborhoods, great cafés, shops, design studios, it has a refreshing climate and position on the shores of the North Sea, beautiful architecture and a relaxed lifestyle.

After my trips to Copenhagen I understood my friend's obsession with Denmark and why she channels this passion in her Denmark dedicated blog 'Amalie loves Denmark'. Now she has put together all her design tips from Copenhagen in one book called 'Mein Kopenhagen' (My Copenhagen) published by Busse Seewald in German. The book comes in an interesting, compact format and is structured in chapters covering the various neighborhoods of Copenhagen. Additionally, she summarizes design and decor shopping tips according to preferred styles and visits some of the local creatives, such as my friend and fellow blogger Allan from Bungalow5. 

For those of you reading/understanding German and planning a trip to Copenhagen, this might be a good book to get a very up-to-date guide with a focus on interior design and decoration. Moreover, the book holds a detachable mini deco guide that will fit easily into your bag while exploring Copenhagen.

I hope you enjoyed today's little virtual stroll through colorful Copenhagen. Have a happy new week my friends!

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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DesignTrade 2014: Some Highlights From Copenhagen

I am back from Copenhagen where I spent two design and fun filled days at the DesignTrade show. I met up with great Scandinavian blogger friends such as Nina, Linda and Pella and we explored the show together.

The focus this time was on the upcoming spring/summer 2014 collections so we could see the inevitable colour injections in many collections such as the new collection of Broste Copenhagen with new blues and yellows, colourful home textiles from Oyoy or ceramics from Kähler Design. The latter has also launched a new collection of coffee sets for lovers of slow drip coffee (like me) – I particularly loved this discovery! One of my new favorites, Skandinavisk, was also exhibiting and presented the new range of scented candles and debuted its line extension to breakfast sets – for the ultimate ‘hygge’ moment you now have also pretty happy coffee mugs and plates with Scandinavian words and motives. Speaking of ceramics, I also liked the new range of Anne Black ceramics with organic shapes and blue hues.

Moreover I discovered a few new brands to me, most of them Scandinavian of course.  I liked the natural and luxurious home textiles from Aiayu featuring subtle, Scandinavian colours. I was intrigued by the great range of furniture and home accessories of Muubs that uses reclaimed teak wood from Indonesia and combines it with raw materials such as concrete. Another new discovery is the very young Danish brand Aperie with beautiful leather products for the home office – sustainably produced in Bolivia. 

My illustration loving eye was also caught by the new Danish brand ‘I Love My Type’ – affirmative and uplifting mottos are featured on posters in various typographies creating a very modern, cool and urban feel. Another fabulous find: the new tray by designer Christina Liljenberg Halstrøm for Design Nation: the combination of metal with wood, a very simple, pure, almost Japanese design and soft colour shades make this not only a tray but a real design piece. Thumbs up!

To make my Copenhagen experience even perfect, I stayed in the fab Bella Sky Hotel – my room on the 19^th floor overlooked the entire Copenhagen region and the North Sea on the horizon with a dramatic ceiling to floor window. Needless to say that the room was equipped with fine Danish design such as a Hay chair and Arne Jacobsen lamps. 

Oh and I couldn’t help but use the opportunity to dip my toes into the Copenhagen sales and shop a bit – great addresses if you are in Copenhagen are the concept stores Black and Playtype, the homewares store Dora, Samsøe & Samsøe for Scandinavian fashion, and Granola for a coffee and lunch break. 

Hope you enjoyed my little design excursion to Copenhagen. Happy week, friends!

Photography by Igor Josifovic, two product shots by Aperie

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Ferm Living: Spring/Summer 2014 Collection

Believe it or not my friends, but today I am en route again - I am heading towards the Danish capital Copenhagen to visit the DesignTrade show for a second time after last year's premiere (see HERE). I will keep you posted in real time on Twitter and Instagram, but in the meantime I wanted to share some favorite pictures of the brand new spring/summer 2014 collection of one of my favorite Danish design brands: ferm LIVING (during my last trip to Copenhagen I interviewed the founder of ferm LIVING, Trine Andersen - read it HERE).

The new collection focuses more beautiful home accessories made of brass, organic textiles, wood, paper. I am totally in love with the blue line of home textiles named 'Pen' as the pattern reminds us of pen lines on paper. I also love the brass pots and particularly adore the retro plant stands - no wonder, as a 'Urban Jungle Blogger' this caught my eye instantaneously. I think I need one of those plant stands and a brass pot to highlight one of my favorite plants at home...

What do you think of the new collection? Have you spotted a favorite?

Hugs from Copenhagen, folks!

Photography via ferm LIVING

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Exclusive Interview: Trine Andersen, Founder Of ferm LIVING

Last summer, during my visit to the DesignTrade show in Copenhagen, I was happy to be invited by ferm LIVING to a blogger breakfast at their fair booth. In the early morning hour, before the door opened, we had the exclusive opportunity to have a proper look at the new MORE collection and chit chat with the founder and creative mind of ferm Living, Trine Andersen. I used the momentum for a little, personal interview with Trine, a charming and super successful lady, who started out with an idea and made ferm LIVING a worldwide known, iconic Danish homewares brand. Enjoy the following interview with Trine Andersen. 

Trine, tell us a bit about your background and how you got the idea to found a design label?
Trine: I worked as an art director in both advertising and fashion before starting ferm LIVING. But it was always my dream to have my own business, so in 2005 I started out as a freelance art director working with different clients. The idea of starting my own brand came after we were looking for some wallpaper for our new house. We couldn't really find the right design for us, so I thought there's probably also other people with the same issue as us. So I started out making 10 different wallpaper designs and presented them on the Formland fair in Herning in spring 2006.

How did you come up with the name and the logo? What does ferm mean and what's the meaning of the little bird in your logo?
Trine: The name 'ferm' was actually inspired by my grandmother. When she said that someone was 'ferm på fingrene' - i.e. skilled with their hands, literally 'good with their fingers' - it was high praise indeed. The bird is on the logo because before I started ferm, I decided to visit a clairvoyant mostly for fun, who saw a little bird sitting confused on a branch, not knowing which way to fly. I saw that as an indicator to start ferm LIVING. And the little bird would sit perfectly on top of the company logo.

How were the early days of ferm LIVING? With what products did you start?
Trine: As you already know, I started out with 10 different wallpaper designs. After one year more products came to life, wallstickers, cushions, tea towels etc. Now there are a bit more than 600 different products in the collection.

It is amazing to hear tha you started with a few wallpaper designs and are nowadays worldwide known as an iconic Scandinavian design brand. Tell us a bit more about your new collection named MORE.
Trine: The idea behind the MORE concept is to show that we are fully devoted to our products, suppliers and customers. We work hard to give the products that extra MORE. We put MORE edge, MORE effort, MORE delicate materials, MORE sophisticated structures, MORE creativity in everything we do.

Which is your favorite piece of the MORE collection?
Trine: Hmm, there are lot of good items this time. But I am especially glad with the Wall Wonder products (lamps, clocks and mirrors) we made this season.

We've seen that ferm LIVING evolved from a few wallpaper designs into a design label with all kind of goods for happy homes. Do you have plans to extend your portfolio in the near future?
Trine: Yes, we continue to move forward into other categories of design products but it's too early to say what... :-)

Thank you Trine for this interview and some personal insights into the history of ferm LIVING. As someone with marketing and PR background I know how important it is to stick to correct brand names and spellings, but this one time I would say I could rename this adorable Danish design brand into ferm LOVING. 

Happy Friday, friends!

P.S. We had lots of fun during our blogger breakfast as you can see on the pic that I snapped of my friends Gerard, Nina and Allan. 

Photography by Igor Josifovic

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