The Dezeen team is reporting live from 3 Days of Design, where highlights included a wool-covered desk, eelgrass insulation, a visit to Noma and a Hay-branded beer.
17:15 pm – Hay, it’s time for a drink
That’s a wrap! We’re off to enjoy some Hay-branded Carlsberg!
Catch up on everything that happened during the festival:
Day one from 3 Days of Design 2024
Day two from 3 Days of Design 2024
16:45 pm – glass bathroom
American design studio Heven – known for making Coperni’s viral glass bag – has created an all-glass bathroom, with everything from toothbrush holders to shelves, hooks, mirrors and entire functioning sinks blown by hand.
The installation, created for skincare brand The Ordinary, is housed in a roofless cube on the harbour front next to the Royal Danish Playhouse, with members of the creative team hovering nearby to make sure none of the fragile glassware is damaged.
16:15 pm – attention grabbing?
In perhaps the most grabby display of the festival, giant hands made from metal rods reach out from the wall of the &Tradition showroom to interact with furniture designs created for the brand by Italian designer Luca Nichetto.
15:00 pm – 2.5 Days of Design?
3 Days of Design is drawing to a close, but earlier for some than others… Dezeen’s editor-at-large Amy Frearson headed to the Refshaleøen district only to find several shows have already wrapped up.
A note on the door explained that Noma Projects has closed, while the Royal Danish Academy show was being dissembled in front of visitors. The Material Way, Trancendence and Natural Material Studio’s White Utopia also appear to be closing early.
Rumour has it that the venues need to be vacated early due to booking conflicts.
14:30 pm – acoustic eelgrass
On a barge in Refshaleøen, Søuld is presenting a range of insulation made from eelgrass, which the company says is naturally carbon sequestering and fire retardant as the plant absorbs salt from the sea as it grows – Dezeen’s design editor Jennifer Hahn went to take a look.
The materials brand has launched a new collaboration with MillerKnoll brand Filzfelt: a range of moveable acoustic panels wrapped in coloured felt and designed to look like wall art.
Eelgrass presents a more scalable alternative to plastic insulation than other biomaterials such as mycelium, argues Filzfelt’s VP of sales Katie Thomas.
“Mycelium takes much more time to produce and we work with a lot of volume in our products,” said Thomas.
“There’s so much eelgrass anyway that needs to be removed anyway from the coastline so it felt like we would be able to keep up with demand.”
13:55 pm – unexpected gifts
Deputy editor Cajsa Carlson visited a flower store set up by collectible design platform Tableau, which also sold unexpected items – including large glass dildos and graffitied vases.
Located in an 18th-century building, the original interior was complemented by playful contemporary furniture, creating a must-stop for anyone looking for a celebratory bouquet – or an unusual sex toy…
13:20 pm – Skål!
Talking of food, social editor Clara Finnigan stopped at Hem’s showroom at Palaegade 8 for a light lunch and bubbles served in their new Fars Glas wine glass, an Erik Höglund re-edition. Skål!
Hem also unveiled another re-edition at the lunch, the Experiment Chair, by Finnish architect Yrjö Kukkapuro with his wife Irmeli in attendance for the occasion.
12:30pm – asparagus overload
It’s asparagus season in Denmark and of course, that means it shall be served for every meal, notes Dezeen’s design editor Jennifer Hahn. Well maybe not breakfast…
Read Hahn’s take on designer butter in yesterday’s review of 3 Days of Design.
12:00pm – Tarkett tower
Material circularity is the emphasis at the Tarkett exhibition, located at Odd Fellow Palace as part of the Framing showcase, which was visited by Dezeen’s editorial director Max Fraser.
The Dutch flooring brand has been working with circularity experts FranklinTill on ways to communicate the work it’s doing to make their production cycle entirely circular.
The exhibition aims to explain the processes involved in breaking down discarded Tarkett carpets and vinyl flooring into its constituent parts, retrieving the raw materials that can then be returned back into the production of new flooring.
11:30am – a taste of Noma
Noma – rated world’s best restaurant on five separate occasions – has opened the doors of its experimental food lab Noma Projects for this year’s 3 Days of Design.
Those unable to get a reservation at the actual restaurant before it closes this winter (including Dezeen’s own Jennifer Hahn), were able to sample some of the food innovations pioneered by chef René Redzepi and his team in the process of reducing food waste.
Among them is a seasoning made from dehydrated seaweed water (which Redzepi calls “kitchen crack”), miso made using leftover bread from Copenhagen’s bakeries and a kind of nut butter made from waste pumpkin seeds mixed with pine and parsley leaf oil – a favourite of the author, who is debating buying check-in luggage just to bring some home with her.
Also on show are some attempts at turning food waste into useful products, including soap, paper and curtains made from seaweed, and artworks coloured using beetroot and saffron.
11:00am – lots of wood
Dezeen’s deputy editor Cajsa Carlson has visited Enter the Salon, a furniture exhibition held at historic townhouse The Conary that is showing designs by brands including Karimoku and Ladies & Gentlemen Studio.
The exhibition curated by designer Signe Hytte, contained lots of wood and other natural materials, which made in a peaceful setting within the bustle of 3 Days of Design.
10:15am – up a wrickety old elevator…
Don’t be put off by the handyman laying down carpet across the five-storey stairwell of the apartment block at Store Strandstræde 19.
Instead, take the rickety old elevator up to the top floor to see a rarely accessible, century-old artist’s atelier transformed into a showcase of 25 emerging designers from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway.
Highlights from the show, based on an open call by the House of Nordic Design, include a shaggy wool-covered desk by Studio Kasa Kasa, a sculptural Sissel Warringa pendant light (recently picked up by Frandsen for mass production) and hand-dyed marbled wood flooring by Anton Mikkonen (rumouredly laid all across Robert Downey Junior’s kitchen).
9:30am – welcome to day three
Good morning! It’s day three of 3 Days of Design and the Dezeen team – editorial director Max Fraser, editor-at-large Amy Frearson, deputy editor Cajsa Carlson, design editor Jennifer Hahn and social editor Clara Finnigan – are on the ground in Copenhagen reporting on all the action.
Catch up with everything that happened on day one and day two here.
Dezeen Events Guide has created a 3 Days of Design guide, highlighting the key events at the festival this year.
Dezeen Events Guide has created a 3 Days of Design guide, highlighting the key events at the festival. See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
All times are Copenhagen time.
The lead image is by Jennifer Hahn.
