Long time no blog! Sorry for the infrequent blogging these past few weeks, but traveling and classes have overtaken my life and severely tested my time management skills. BUT have no fear because I’ve got new posts coming your way…..
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Denmark usually brings to mind three things: their welfare state, their happiness level, and their design. Recently, I got to experience that design firsthand by visiting The Danish Design Museum with both some visiting relatives and my “Meaning of Style” class.
Danish design is known for emphasizing efficiency and productivity over extravagance; essentially that ‘minimalist’ look you’ve been seeing all over the internet has some roots in Danish and Scandinavian design. In the museum, the exhibits “Danish Design Now” and “The Danish Chair” showcase these exact qualities. First, Danish Design Now looks at how Danish designers from every field including fashion, architecture, bicycle making and more, are creating designs that showcase classic Danish design elements in the 21st century. Some objects focus on beauty while others use new, environmentally friendly technologies. All are still in production, a testament to the durability and appeal of these designs.
All of the objects in the images above showcase the appeal of Danish design by being contemporary pieces with added elements taken from the Danish design golden age of the 1950s-1960s. The chairs and stools are fashioned from one piece of material with clean lines that curve to fit the human body, but with bright accents of orange to make them stand out in a room. The bike is made of bamboo in order to update previous styles and make it lighter and even easier for a consumer to use.
The Danish Chair exhibit also embodies the essence of Danish design by showcasing some of the most recognizable Danish chairs of the past century. Unfortunately I was too mesmerized by their beauty to actually take many pictures of these chairs….
What makes these chairs so desirable is their simplicity and comfort and the fact that they look really cool no matter what. What I thought made these chairs so cool was the idea that they can be used by so many different types of people over many years and they would never go out of style. Because of the simple designs, there’s nothing about them that says ‘trend’ or ‘fad’ (well maybe that fur chair in the center is a bit outdated).
Overall, the design museum does a great job showcasing the talents of Danish designers of every artistic background. They display the pieces in a way that makes you want to pick them up, sit in them, and go out and buy them. My only complaint? YOU CAN’T SIT IN 95% OF THE AMAZING CHAIRS! At times it was hard to restrain myself, but knowing I could go buy them at Hay House or Illums Bolighus , two of the most well known Danish design stores on Strøget, made the restraint of sitting a little easier to stand. 😉
Cohenhagen 