What felt like the most impressive edition of 3daysofdesign to date, took on the theme ‘Make This Moment Matter’ earlier this month in Copenhagen, the canonical city of Scandinavian style. Focused on living in the now, the festival carried an undercurrent of urgency around the need for change, setting the tone for the days ahead.
With a nod to the past and a glimpse into the future, global design leaders took us on a nostalgic journey, while offering a vision of a better future — one equipped with sustainable materials and more considered ways of living.
We were asked to explore the dichotomy between novelty and necessity, the intersection between ‘more’ and ‘meaningful’, whilst simultaneously appreciating global design and innovation.
Throughout bespoke design spaces – galleries, showrooms, spring gardens, river banks, warehouses and intimate dining rooms – mini fantasy realms were created, presenting innovative and unexpected products, where the unified message of creativity over consumption was paramount. Under the influence of modernism, emerging players in the design field pushed the boundaries of functionality, clean silhouettes and reimagined spaces — often communal and designed for living.
What started as a modest festival in 2013, spotlighting local Danish design brands (Montana, Erik Jørgensen, Anker & Co, and Kvadrat) in an old warehouse in the Nordhavn harbor, has blossomed into one of Europe’s premier design events, with hundreds of Danish and international brands showcasing contemporary and heritage designs in showrooms, galleries and cobbled streets across Copenhagen.
The most noteworthy events presented carefully orchestrated installations and gatherings that forced us to pause, reflect and notice award-winning design, while offering a glimpse into the Danish art of slower living.
Deoron, Ukurant and Formei were standout presentations for me, with examples of impeccably curated independent and emerging designers working at the intersection of design, research and lifestyle. Here, intent and simplicity overshadowed mass production and repetition. A clash of upcycled materials, colourful plastics, 3D-printed forms, wood, lacquer, sculpted steel, hand-printed fabric and paper were placed side by side, an act of furniture unity and unexpected camaraderie. Contrasts between heavy and light, darkness and shadow asked us to consider our own presence within the room.
Anyone who attended the Ukurant conglomeration during 3daysofdesign will recall the vertebrate-like sun lounger, resembling a scorpion, by Danish designer Lasse Sylveste Lilleør.
The large-scale Alvar Aalto 90 Pavilion, imagined by Finnish glassware icon Iittala, stood impressively across the water. Constructed for Design Week, the pavilion paid homage to Aalto’s iconic vase on its 90th anniversary. The temporary sculpture was presented by local studio Tableau using low-carbon Norwegian aluminium by Hydro. A fitting landmark at the centre of this aesthetically driven week, it continued the festival’s wider conversation around sustainability.
You could feel the energy on every street corner — electric in the springtime heat. Eager crowds gathered in every showroom, cascading down baroque staircases and cementing this year’s festival as one of the most successful to date, and a refreshing postlude to Salone del Mobile.
We started our Nordic journey sailing down the Christianshaven Canal towards the DAC (Danish Architecture Centre), beginning with ‘This Is Not A Forest’, a multi-sensory installation by Archival and Dinesen Lab, tracing the journey of wood from forest to architecture. Natural birdsong, the melancholic sound of tree felling and hand-carved, scented timber poles transformed the space into something resembling an architectural forest.
This was followed closely by a step back in time at the Thorvaldsens Museum, curated by Birgitte Due Madsen, presenting carefully selected objets d’art disguised as furniture and ornamental pieces from 19 designers and craftspeople. Watched over by imposing Neoclassical statues, the landmark exhibition ‘Objects of Desire’ offered a bold take on contemporary works within a 19th-century architectural setting, focused on slow, time-intensive production and material longevity, with styles and techniques reimagined for the present. A shining jewel in the Danish design crown.
We marvelled at historic palaces, including the aptly named Odd Fellow Palace, comprising a joint exhibition, ‘FRAMING’, from likeminded design houses such as Marrimor, String, Grythyttan Stålmöbler, Yamagiwa and Walter Knoll.
Memorable lunches came in the form of foraged vegan delicacies, eaten off speckled recycled resin plates at Finnish design leader, Durat, paired with matching woven placemats — a reminder of how fabric design can stand the test of time. It was here that we met wild-food guru and chef Sami Tallberg, who introduced us to the sea buckthorn super berry and ensured we ate attentively, celebrating seasonality and palette sensitivity. Local organic wines never far away.
And when the sun made an appearance, long-table suppers took place in hidden courtyards and at the Design Museum. After all it was Springtime in Denmark, aka strawberry and elderflower season. Ferm Living kept us hydrated, al fresco, with garden granitas and tunes during a well-deserved open-air pause. Deconstructed grazing boards, with mountains of whipped butter, wafer-thin crackers and individual iced cherries, were seen at Noura residency as part of the ‘Fat, Powder, Fruit, Sugar’ event in collaboration with Imogen Kwok, Margot Baus and Køge.
In between the serious display of modern design, the essence of play was given its due as we reminisced about our youth in Vipp’s very own ‘Guesthouse to Playhouse’ exhibit with Mesura. There was a modernist curved seesaw, a jumbo communal ‘conversation pit’ disguised as a lounge area and a stylised lifeguard chair. The trip continued down memory lane with Tableau x Secolo’s drawing room, a playful and artistic take on simple design, where floral graphics adorned the walls and tables and large sheets of kraft paper covered the room. Elsewhere outdoors, garden settings never looked so refined, thanks to Grythyttan Stalmöbler’s new Bovik chairs.
Across the lake, in Copenhagen’s recently renovated 18th-century historic Court Theatre (Hofteatret), dramatic choreography was performed under hand-blown glass stars at Bomma’s newest light installation, where you could almost hear the ghost of Hans Christian Andersen hiding in the theatre’s wings. Theatrical events continued via intimate private dining, hidden in a labyrinth of ornate woven wooden tunnels, hosted by Alpi, only to later be enveloped in textured wild carpets at Layered as part of their ‘Industrial Choreography’ installation.
Dining and moments of considered pause were at the heart of the festival and celebrated as a ritual — after all, it is at the table where we are at our most exposed, confronted with new faces, ideas, thoughts and cultures, challenging our assumptions and asking us to question our own authenticity. As the napkins unfolded, so did the conversation, in various mother tongues, wardrobes and characters.
Speaking of gastronomy, a moment to reflect on the freshly shucked pink oysters, raw spiny lobster, butter-anchovy canapés and mouth-watering ragu served at Hjemstavn, presented within one of their new bespoke kitchens and dining suites. Situated so close to the water, we were indulged by a constant stream of seafood carpaccio during Design Week, along with unique picnic-style rooftop affairs — Vipp’s stylised take on a Scandi BBQ — and, did I mention, the emergence of a marble office chair across the way in their private studio? And we are all still daydreaming about the Scandinavian cardamom and cinnamon buns from Juno Bakery, as seen scattered across the events during the week.
Savoury flavours lingered long enough to be replaced by the discovery of coloured fruit discs dissolving on our tongues at aperitif hour, while we were reminded of California’s colourful, timeless approach to design at Tiny Frey.
We got an unexpected glimpse into royal Danish bedtime through four-poster beds with mattresses piled high and adorned with crisp linen at Tekla’s ‘The Heart of Living’ — suffice to say, I didn’t find the pea. There was a further reminder to keep design matters close to the heart at Muuto, where a collaboration with Spacon realised an aluminium chair with heart-shaped end profiles — ‘a whisper of love inside an ordered system’, as they explain it.
From fabrics with precise accordion folds sculpted into unique flowers at Issey Miyake A-POC — a workshop alongside origami-inspired wire and cloth, and weightless lampshades created in collaboration with Type XIII Atelier Oi — to bespoke light designs made from paper, sewn card and hand-crafted creations at Le Klint, where we saw rare artisans at the top of their field. Mythical artisans reigned at Homo Faber under its Fellowship Programme.
We witnessed sofas masquerading as elaborate sherbet-coloured tartan picnic rugs at Design Starts on Paper, a group exhibition curated by MBSY Lab at Papiroen. At the centre of Hem’s contribution was the Min Chair by British designer Max Lamb, a classical study in solid pine and contemporary design with a utilitarian take. HEM, progressive by nature, creates contemporary furniture for architectural spaces, blending creativity, functionality and natural materials, underpinned by collaborations with leading designers such as Max Lamb, Faye Toogood and Sabine Marcelis.
Interwoven displays of abstract art between modular shelving offered a refreshing interlude at String, where notable Picasso-like body parts broke through its iconic shelving and displays.
And moments of meditation, quiet elegance and purposeful living came by way of Stellar Works’ matcha tea ceremony, alongside its presentation of new dining furniture and an enduring relationship with Space Copenhagen. There was even a fashion moment: an unexpected bespoke kimono uniform collaboration by YKK.
There were also notable landmark events taking place across the festival, including 100 years of Poul Henningsen’s PH system.
Even as we visited and were invited into the showrooms and homes of generations-old, family-owned and iconic Scandinavian and international brands, showcasing their legacy and lineage with a contemporary twist, we were reminded to take notice of new generations of craftspeople and emerging talent, and to appreciate forgotten crafts.
Whilst celebrating century-old designers and flagship design houses, we also needed to pay homage to innovation and modern artisanal techniques, as celebrated by the new generation of furniture makers, groomed by leading institutions such as the Royal Danish Academy, which identifies, nurtures and fosters emerging talent, helping master’s students realise their design ambitions. In tandem, its sister programme in Cairo, Egypt, continues this work further afield.
As hundreds of design enthusiasts scattered across town in search of the best Midsummer garden party, a brutalist display of industrial furniture, or perhaps just a glimpse into an iconic Scandinavian home with the quintessential minimalist aesthetic coveted by every leading design journal, I was on a sustainability and sensory pilgrimage.
Searching for both Scandinavian and European design inspiration, I found it further afield, too — in surprising curations and unexpected encounters from across the globe.
Design Highlights
I have curated a few memorable highlights from the course of 3daysofdesign (which naturally spilled over into five) where considered design, minimal aesthetics and conscious consumption reigned.
Olfactory
1. Frama
‘Mechanics of Scent’ was an interactive installation of elegant, aviatic proportions, coinciding with Frama’s 10th anniversary and the 10-year legacy of its signature Apothecary scent. Fresh from its LA show, Frama presented an installation focused on the power of scent at its flagship Copenhagen store during Design Week.
In a society saturated with the visual, ‘Mechanics of Scent’ reminded us that the domestic space wouldn’t exist without the natural flow of scent into and out of a room, disappearing and reappearing before we have time to notice it. As we live alongside armchairs, desks and dining tables, we would be lost without our senses in these everyday domestic settings. Parachuting mobiles floated down from above as Frama’s signature scents were wafted through the air.
A collection of interactive and meditative scent sculptures was created through a collaboration between Frama and artist David Gardner, alongside vintage furnishings and decor. Adjacent to the exhibit was the ever-trendy Apotek bar and café, where refuge and respite were taken between shows, along with a brief VIP visit to the ever-stylish Frama HQ.
Auditory
2. Fritz Hansen – A design in dialogue
Sound Club, carefully designed by the masters behind Fritz Hansen and audio brand Technics, created a unique listening lounge and feature installation during Design Week. A meditation on the intimate dialogue between space and sound, the installation was shaped by conversation, with spoken word moving between podcasts, LPs and bespoke vinyl.
This interactive experience, spread across multiple connected spaces, explored the way space and shape affect sound, delivering exactly what one might expect from these design masters. Tuning out for a brief interlude helped me tune back into the bustling festival.
Visionary
3. Deoron
Deoron is a curated design and lifestyle platform founded by Alberto Pallaoro in 2021, created to bring clarity, meaning and beauty to the way we discover and experience objects.
In a world flooded with mass production and visual noise, Deoron acts as a filter, bringing together functional, beautiful and often hard-to-find pieces across design, lifestyle and contemporary culture. Its physical exhibitions extend this philosophy into tangible spaces, where design, sound and sensory storytelling meet.
This exhibition ensured no one was left standing, thanks to its outstanding display of chairs and stools, including the ‘Break a Leg’ dining chair by Parisian designer Romain Basile Petrot, crafted from moulded aluminium. Simplicity met brutalism, proving that a timeless piece doesn’t need excess decoration to make its presence known. Across more than 30 designers, shadow and light, weight and depth were set against delicate, almost weightless forms.
Equilibrium
4. A-POC Issey Miyake
Fashion brand Issey Miyake, synonymous with its meticulous pleats, presented A-POC (A Piece of Cloth), paying tribute to its innovative, integrated design and manufacturing system responsible for its iconic folded cloth. Originally introduced by the brand in Paris in 1998, A-POC evolved into A-POC ABLE in 2021, further exploring the infinite potential of a single piece of cloth woven in a singular way.
It has long been recognised that designer Dai Fujiwara and his engineers value the dialogue between creator and wearer. New lamps, inspired by nature, were debuted through the TYPE-XIII Atelier Oi Project, a collaboration with Swiss design studio Atelier Oi that further explores the notion of ‘a piece of cloth’ alongside ‘a piece of wire’. The result was a series of innovative, floating sculptures that provided both light and beauty through an elegant balance of movement.
Somatosensation
5. ‘Ukurant Makes Room’
‘Ukurant Makes Room’ at 3daysofdesign brought together a community of young creatives and emerging talent inside an imposing, light-filled warehouse, celebrating an experimental approach to craft, material, tradition and camaraderie.
The 2026 edition took place at Fabrikken for Kunst og Design in Copenhagen, which houses studios for a range of like-minded creatives. Here, the entire artistic process is celebrated, from concept to creation and, finally, existence.
Bold. Disruptive. Directional. Invigorating.
Proprioception
6. Yamagiwa
Yamagiwa Japan’s ‘The Art of Lighting’ presentation featured new masterpieces inspired by the legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Traditional craftsmanship met engineering excellence and the art of minimalism, while the team launched the O-Light this season, providing a juxtaposition to the floating ghost floor lamp from its K-Series, seen earlier this year.
The team also ensured our flailing limbs were kept close to our bodies when navigating their geometric tiered lamps as part of their iconic Taliesin White series.
Gustation
7. Louise Roe
Louise Roe, a Danish designer synonymous with art, craftsmanship and minimalism, presented timeless, contemporary pieces in an intimate gallery setting.
During Design Week, the Louise Roe gallery transformed into an extension of The Roe Bar, creating a social interior space and inviting guests to ‘stay a little longer’. The sentiment encouraged visitors to linger, savour and fully immerse themselves in the Roe experience, while also pausing to appreciate her distinctly artisanal sensibility.
Through slowing down time, guests were able to discover the new Frankie Café Chair and Table, along with The Person Glass Lamp. Roe flawlessly merges avant-garde design with modern aesthetics, a reminder that less can, indeed, be more.
As a runway enthusiast, I felt most at home in her world, aided by thoughtful, grounded vegetarian fare.
Sensibility
8. Objects of desire
Copenhagen-based designer Birgitte Due Madsen unveiled a show-stopping curation in ‘Objects of Desire’ at the prestigious 19th-century Thorvaldsens Museum in Denmark.
The museum’s foreboding façade, filled with Neoclassical marble statues telling stories of mythology, love, worship and turmoil in heroic proportions, provided the perfect backdrop for this group exhibition of hand-selected contemporary art, furniture and lighting.
Featuring decorative objects from 20 artists and designers from around the world, the exhibition was one of the most compelling and humbling of Design Week. Each piece shared a certain heirloom quality, designed to transcend the moment in which it was made.
‘Beauty is a discipline. It is about understanding composition, balance, scale, proportion, and structure. It is about working with nuances — the subtle relationships between materials, forms, surfaces, and the space around an object.’ — Birgitte Due Madsen
Madsen’s words during the exhibition opening captured the philosophy behind the curation: beauty isn’t accidental, but the result of knowledge, sensitivity and an ongoing refinement of decisions.
The Mimosa Chair, by architectural designers Rémy Sausset and Kim Leou of French creative studio Sausset & Leou, presented a modernist-style birch armchair built to withstand the test of time.
‘Sausset Leou is an architectural practice born from the shared affinity of its founders, grounded in a poetic vernacular and radical approach to spatial design,’ the founders explained ahead of their involvement in 3daysofdesign.
Korean designer Rahee Yoon presented her table ‘Ancient Brown II’, carefully constructed from acrylic and ottchil lacquer using traditional Korean techniques. More of the young émergente’s work can be seen at Francis Gallery, LA.
Buro Parsons’ Aluminium Veneer Chair, Sofie Østerby’s lamp, Rasmussen & Fenhann’s Magnetic Cube Table and the elaborate velvet Ottomano sofa by Francesca Torzo were among the other memorable additions.
The Sedia Tonya Alluminio chair, with its crisp, uncomplicated blend of squares and circles, provided a perfect alignment of geometric proportions while remaining easily disassembled — functionality and beauty in equal measure, courtesy of Florentine craftsman Eduardo Lietti.
Lastly, the canary-yellow Louis armchairs by Maison Arpelli added an unexpected touch of vibrancy to the collection.
OBE (out of body experience)
9. &Tradition
For this year’s 3daysofdesign, &Tradition presented ‘Traces’, an exhibition seeking to uncover the common threads connecting classic and contemporary, local and global, past and future. A concept that, to my mind, neatly summed up what Design Week in Copenhagen represented.
We were invited into their home — an impressive five-floor HQ spanning seamless beauty and interior magic — where unrivalled minimalist design reigns and the concept of longevity and timeless design holds true.
Large-scale modern art hung across huge walls, ensuring a feeling of life and emotion throughout the space, while new product launches were supported by rare historical archives.
With a particular focus on Verner Panton and Hee Welling’s Rely series, each room was orientated around the coexistence of heritage, legacy and originality.
&Tradition has a legacy of ensuring conscious consideration of people and planet remains at the centre of its design philosophy, striving for a balance between expansion and footprint.
The brand’s iconic design language can also be seen across its sister residences and cafés, including Lille Petra Café and Petra Hotel.
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