Fuglen is the brain child of Norwegians Einar Kleppe Holthe, Peppe Trulsen and Halvor Digernes and combines coffee, cocktails and vintage furniture in a winning combination.
It was Einar’s passion for coffee and a lucky coincidence that sparked a chain of events that led to Fuglen’s current incarnation. The award-winning barista was working for Norway’s largest coffee chain, when it announced the closure of KaffeFuglen (‘Coffeebird’), a café that had been serving the people of Oslo since 1963.
When Einar protested, seeing KaffeFuglen as a vital part of Oslo’s heritage, the response was simple: “If you are so keen, you can buy it from us, and you can run it in your spare time.”
Disheartened and seeking advice, he met friend and fellow mid-century enthusiast Peppe Trulsen for a drink. Before he could open his mouth, Peppe announced that he had lost his premises for Flabbergaster, the vintage furniture shop that had made his name as Norway’s mid-century design expert.
The two hatched a plan to combine the café and shop into one expanded space – they faithfully restored it to its former glory (a process which took 2000 hours!) and now everything in the cafe is for sale.
Before long, Halvor Digernes had joined them, adding a cocktail bar into the mix, and the three concepts merged under the name Fuglen (‘Bird’). “At weekends we close at half past three in the morning, and then we open again at 9am the next morning as a coffee bar – we’ve got three difference concepts under one roof, but we manage to keep very different ambiences,” says Einar.
Today, the space is a productive place to work during the day – fuelled by the rocket-fuel-strong coffee preferred by the Norwegians, and a sociable place to catch up with friends at night over an impressive selection of cocktails. What more could you ask for?
