My first overseas trade show of the year was a new one – Northmodern in Copenhagen. I was really excited to be back in a city I visited for the first time only last August and keen to check out the new design talent at the show. One of the first stands I spotted was Copenhagen-based ceramist Malene Helbak‘s. I’d spotted her shop the last time I was in town, but unfortunately it was closed, so it was really nice to see her products in the flesh. Vintage-inspired, they are designed to be mixed and matched. “Why should a cup not be used for anything other than coffee and tea?” she says. “How about using it for a flower or a pencil?”
The Gravity Stool by Dutch designer Jolan van der Wiel’s is made by exposing specially developed two-component plastics to opposing magnetic fields. The result is these small batch production stools with what Jolan describes as “unpredictable organic shapes that are so typical of nature itself.”
Simon Legald’s Form for Normann Copenhagen was launched at the show, alongside an exhibition about its making. It is inspired by iconic chairs throughout history. “I had an idea of what the ideal chair should look like,” he said. “I have analysed hundreds of chairs from different periods during the design process.” An interesting snippet I picked up at the show was that Simon’s first role for Normann Copenhagen was a Saturday job in their shop while he was still studying!
I loved Archive by Ninna Kjaegard Nielse, designed as part of a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) competition. The FSC is an international not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s woodlands. I love the combination of materials – wood, leather and felt – and the idea of wall-mounting this type of office storage.
The Coupé shelves by Poiat for Woud were inspired by outside luggage racks on vintage sports and coupé cars and remind me of classic Scandi shelving systems such as String. Woud is a new Scandinavian furniture, lightning and home accessories brand, which launched its very first collection at Northmodern.
Also for Woud, Tojbox is a freestanding wardrobe designed by Made by Michael. It comes flatpacked and is assembled without screws, nails or glue, using wooden joints that simply slot or twist into place.
The Tonfisk Design stand proclaimed, ‘Form follows function doesn’t mean all objects have to look the same,’ and backed that point up with Warm, a ceramic and laminated bent wood tea and coffee set with an unusual form.
New designers Anne Nørbjerg and Sanne Kyed of Nordvink developed the Bell Lamp for Applicata. With oversized wooden beads strung along its cable, it can be hung as a pendant, singly or in groups, or laid across a surface as a table lamp.
Also for Applicata, I loved the simple form of Danish designer Anne Boysen’s little ‘Arch:You’ wooden houses with painted roofs. And last but not least, retro-inspired surface pattern design by husband and wife team Anette Stabel and Jesper Binger, otherwise known as Super Living. It was a great show, and certainly worth braving the snow to get there.
I’m off to the Stockholm Furniture Fair this week, so watch this space for more gorgeous Scandi design. Until then, some further reading for the especially geeky:
- coadgbursary :: home london, jan15
- out and about :: desso best in class winner
- out and about :: art house, designblok
- out and about :: openstudio designblok
Nortmodern is one of four shows we’re covering for Issue 2 of Fiera Magazine, so pre-order Issue 2 now for lots more new design talent. Out June.
