The Capital of Creative Cool

Copenhagen doesn’t need to prove itself as a design destination. Since the 1940s, Danish designers like the late Arne Jacobsen, Finn Juhl, Louis Poulsen and Georg Jensen established themselves and their eponymous firms as trailblazers, anchored and uplifted by the city’s standard-bearing cultural institutions, such as the Designmuseum Danmark (which was recently overhauled) and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. 

Copenhagen was named the UNESCO World Capital of Architecture for 2023, and the world still looks to the Danes for innovative solutions and inspiration. “When I talk to international collectors or galleries, they are looking at what is next for Danish design,” says Maria Bruun, a Copenhagen-based furniture designer. “They know about Arne Jacobsen and Børge Mogensen but want to see what is next,” she says. “They are curious to see how this heritage will be brought into contemporary time.”

An indication of what’s next can be found during the city’s annual 3 Days of Design, a design fair that commences in June. It’s Copenhagen’s answer to Milan’s Salone del Mobile, where studios fling open their doors, new products and collaborations are launched and design folks fly in from around the globe. From the hip Nørrebro neighborhood to the historic waterfront area of Nyhavn and buzzy Refshaleøen, a former industrial area (of Noma HQ fame), the city is bursting with fresh, new offerings. 

While Danish design names dominate the agenda, the fair has also diversified, increasingly showcasing international players such as U.K.-based Tom Dixon; Cypriot-born, London-based designer Michael Anastassiades; and Canadian lighting brand A-N-D. “For the past few years,6 the fair has resonated so well internationally,” says Bruun, who launched the Pioneer Collection, a range of sculptural stools at the fair with heritage brand Fredericia, a family-owned design company founded in 1911.

Bruun is one of the many contemporary creatives who is working with a heritage brand to create modern pieces rooted in craftsmanship, a growing trend in Copenhagen. “For a country that has so much history in design — which has been so referential to everybody — it doesn’t surprise me that designers today are deciding to celebrate that,” says Michael Anastassiades, who created a lighting exhibition during 3 Days with Dansk Møbelkunst Gallery, a brand that specializes in rare, vintage Danish furniture. These partnerships present not only an opportunity for well-known brands to renew their street cred, but for younger designers to leverage recognized names. “I’m hoping to establish my name and my work in this long tradition of Danish design,” says Bruun. “Working with Fredericia — a family-owned business that has worked with pioneers — is a big step in that direction.” Fellow designers have followed suit. During 3 Days, architect and interior designer David Thulstrup launched a new silver piece with the iconic silverware brand Georg Jensen. Meanwhile, iconic lighting brand Louis Poulsen unveiled a collection of colorful, playful lights in collaboration with NYC-based glass artists Heven. 

In the past few years, a slew of new design shops have opened, too. Ferm LIVING launched its first showroom in a lofty, historic building with wooden beams, arched windows and old stone walls. In the giant, double-volume space, shoppers can browse the collection of minimalist homeware including flax couches, basket lamps and delicate ceramics. Nearby, Louis Poulsen unveiled a six-story HQ and showroom filled with a wide range of lamps — from classic pendants to contemporary floor lights. In fact, the whole congregation of small islands called Holmen, on the edge of the city center, has become a design destination in its own right, with shops such as Italian lighting manufacturer FLOS and Lammhults, which recently revealed a new HQ and showroom in a soaring brick building during the fair.

Green Ambition 

With Copenhagen’s big sustainability ambitions (the city aims to be carbon neutral by 2025), it’s to be expected that some Danish brands are highlighting eco offerings. 

“While simplicity and functionality are key characteristics of Danish design, we now also get recognized for new sustainable materials,” says Henrik Marstrand, founder of Mater, an ethical design and green-tech brand. This year, Mater launched new chairs in collaboration with OEO Studio (co-founded by Thomas Lykke), using Matek, the brand’s patented material made primarily from trash. The material, which has a wood-like quality and is made from beer, coffee and wood waste, as well as discarded plastic from the production of milk cartons, is proof that sustainability can be both functional and beautiful. “You do not compromise on design by being sustainable; they go hand in hand,” says Marstrand. Next, the Mater team will experiment with textile waste, a growing problem that’s in dire need of smart design solutions. 

You only need to bike or walk across one of the bridges or go for a morning swim in the harbor to see how good ideas influence the city. “There is design in every corner of Copenhagen,” says Bruun. “It’s in our bicycle lanes, our signage.” Indeed, the city is constantly investing in creative solutions for infrastructure. Last year, more than 10 million euros was invested in bicycle tracks, which will add to the hundreds of tracks that already connect the various neighborhoods. In the neighborhood of Amager, a waste-to-energy plant called CopenHill is set in a soaring silver building designed by starchitect Bjarke Ingels and doubles as a recreational area with a climbing wall and ski slope that can accommodate up to 100 skiers. The facility can incinerate up to 600,000 tons of waste per year from some 645,000 inhabitants, and in turn produce power for 80,000 homes and heating for about 90,000 apartments. “We have a green mindset,” says Marstrand.

Copenhagen is a city built on the water, and a major initiative over the past decade has been creating more access to the harbor front through the introduction of new ferry routes and bridges. And not just any old bridges, but ones designed by local architectural studios like Cobe and renowned Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, who created a playful footpath consisting of five circular platforms.

The investment also extends to the water itself, which is swimmable now thanks to an initiative launched in the 1990s to clean the harbor by moving the major ports away from the city center and implementing wastewater treatment plants. Visit Copenhagen in the summer and you’ll find locals lounging along the harbor front or diving into the water in designated swimming zones, morning, noon and night. Sunlight lasts up to 18 hours a day during midsummer, and the Danes soak up every minute of it. While some swimming zones are more informal, others (known as “harbor baths”) have floating wooden decks and saunas. At Islands Brygge, a harborside stretch with a green space and floating pontoons designed by Bjarke Ingels, locals swim laps and dive into the water from the giant wooden cliff. It’s proof of Copenhagen’s symbiotic relationship: how good design informs the city and vice versa. 

Meanwhile, some parts of the harbor front have been entirely overhauled, making space for a growing city center through smart architecture. Nordhavn, a former shipyard on a jagged peninsula in the north of the city, has been transformed by Cobe. The area was once derelict and void of life but is now connected to the city center via a new metro line and is buzzing with shops, restaurants, green spaces, harbor baths and sharp buildings like the Silo, a brutalist apartment block, and the Portland Towers, two former silos that have been converted into a BREEAM-certified office building. It’s also become a design hub, with Handvärk Furniture, Edda Studio, Gubi and Audo Copenhagen setting up shop. 

Further inland, the Carlsberg City District, a historic brewing area that was closed off for 160 years, is Copenhagen’s newest neighborhood after a decade of rebuilding and restoration, most recently by BRIQ architects. Here, shiny new buildings and contemporary restaurants like the Japanese-inspired Kōnā sit alongside cobbled streets and old brick industrial towers from the 1800s.

No matter what part of Copenhagen you visit, you’re bound to stumble upon beautiful spaces. Shop for candles and creams at FRAMA, set in a former apothecary with antique wooden shelves, or grab a coffee and sourdough bun from Atelier September, a cult café where you’ll sit on Artek stools and HAY chairs on the sidewalk.

Henrik Marstrand, Founder, Mater