Design is alive and well in Denmark

Design is alive and well in Denmark. The two most exciting shops I visited on a recent trip to Copenhagen were Stilleben and HAY.  Both follow the tradition of Scandinavian furniture and product design with clean modern light lines, pale woods and strong textural accessories.

Stilleben has one store in Copenhagen and offers original ceramic and small furniture pieces designed by Stilleben, www.stilleben.dk, ceramics by Anne Black www.anneblack.dk , as well as other select pieces by current and past design icons.  It is a perfect place to browse for the unique gift or small accessory furniture for the home to take home from your trip.

HAY, now in its 10th year, has several stores nationwide and has expanded into the European, Australian and Asian markets with their own unique furniture collections. HAY’s founders, Rolf and Mette Hjort Hay backed by Troels Holch Povlsen of the Danish fashion consortium Bestseller, made it their goal to create and nurture current furniture design in the Scandinavian tradition picking up from where design greats like Børge Mogensen and Finn Juhl left off.  They have done just that since 2003, when their first furniture collection was presented at the Cologne Furniture fair.

The feel is young, but don’t get fooled!  There is nothing transient about HAY. The team has a seriously well thought out concept, and the designs HAY nurture to market are here to stay.  www.HAY.dk

The US is not void of fresh design, but is lagging behind creating a new generation of classic furniture on a mass scale.  There is clearly a market for modern design in New York, and specifically in Westchester County where the trend is spreading with the influx of young people moving to the area.  We have West Elm and CB2, both with a mod design feel at a low cost and which both collaborate with a new generation of designers.  However, there is an ever-changing inventory and sometimes mixed quality making it hard to tell if any of the furniture will have a lasting effect and become heirlooms; we also have Room and Board, with many well-made new stables that follow a more traditional mid-century modern sensibility.  Then there is Design within Reach, which reissued ‘forgotten’ and new pieces by mid-century designers such as Jens Risom, has nurtured new design and which also sell other important mid-century collections from companies like Knoll and Fritz Hansen.  However, DWR’s prices are out of reach for most of the younger generation with their partial focus on the sanctioned reproductions of big names of the past.

Personally, I would welcome a rounded HAY presence in America.  There is a void to be filled for new Scandinavian furniture designs that have the potential to become classics, but with a price tag for the average buyer and a quality way above IKEA.

Future Perfect in Soho used to carry a few HAY designs. Anthropology for a while carried the Pinocchio felt rug, and DWR sells a select few HAY accessories,  but that is a scattered presence that does not do HAY’s concept justice.  Currently, Klaus by Nienkamper in Toronto is one of the few companies that carry a fair amount of HAY furniture on this continent.

Fortunately, I have been successful in digging deep below the surface to provide my clients with modern and unique design choices.  However, I personally would welcome a HAY flagship store in New York – making these designs readily available to all.  We need a fresh boost for the next generations that are in the process of establishing themselves as collectors of furniture that is designed with them in mind and created within their own time. There is a void to be filled!

Read more here. Have your MAC or PC translate this insightful article from Danish.

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