The Dezeen team are reporting live from the 11th edition of 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen. Read on for all the coverage from the first day – 12 June.
5:30pm – "ghosts of design weeks past"
At Kvadrat's exhibition, tote bags hanging from the ceiling were described by Dezeen editor-at-large Amy Frearson as "ghosts of design weeks past".
The Danish textile brand invited 12 designers to create an installation telling a story about sustainability. British designer Maxwell Ashford chose the tote bag "because it's the object of the design fair".
Ashford created tote bags from 10 different fabrics, each with a label that reveals the environmental impact of that textile.
"This information should become a standardised requirement," he told Frearson.
"It helps avoid greenwashing; you get a clear sense that one is maybe better than the other. Then, if you really love one that has a greater environmental impact, you know you have to make it last a long time."
4:30pm – hello Kuma
While on her boat tour, design editor Jennifer Hahn spotted the Waterfront Culture Center designed by Kengo Kuma taking shape within Copenhagen harbour.
Revealed on Dezeen in 2018, the aquatics centre will contain indoor pools with an outdoor pool located alongside the harbour.
The building is part of the wider development of Paper Island masterplanned by Danish studio COBE and takes its form from the housing alongside it.
When complete the building will look dramatically different as it will have brick cladding.
4:00pm – on a boat!
Design editor Jennifer Hahn is exploring 3 Days of Design in style with a boat tour.
"I now insist on being ferried around on a boat at every design event," said Hahn.
Flying proudly from the back of the boat is the 3 Days of Design flag, which features branding designed by Danish architecture studio BIG.
The event's visual identity features bulbous cloud formations in the shape of furniture along with the words Dare to Dream on a sunset-hued gradient background.
"Ask a designer, architect or interior designer, and they'll tell you that they design more than products, buildings and interiors," the 3 Days of Design organisers explained when the visual identity was launched. "They design dreams."
3:30pm – "liquid perfumes solidified into a tabletop"
This year's 3 Days of Design isn't just showcasing furniture, but also scents, reports deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.
Design duo All Matters Studio teamed up with Rotterdam-based Forever Studio to create the En Doft Perfumery on Bredgade, showcasing perfumes by All Matters Studios and furniture co-designed by the two studios.
A central table combined a wooden base designed by All Matters with a swirling resin tabletop by Forever Studio that resembles marble and was inspired by its surroundings.
"For the perfumery, we took the inspiration from the liquids – it's a bit as if the liquids perfumes solidified into a tabletop," Forever Studio co-founder Bienke Domenie told Dezeen.
The space also featured Forever Studio's wavy metal sculptures, which were used as display cases, and wooden chairs by All Matters Studio.
All Matters Studio designed it to prelaunch its fifth scent, Insula Mane, which was created with French perfume designer Emmanuel Martini for its perfume brand En Doft and made for a very nice-smelling stop among the furniture showrooms.
2:30pm – mobile saunas and waste pulp chairs
Fresh out of their graduation robes, masters students from the Royal Danish Academy's institute of architecture and design are exhibiting their final projects in a warehouse on achingly-hip Refshaleøen Island.
Highlights include a mobile sauna tent by Sophie Marsfeldt Bergqvist and several innovative seating designs.
Firstly, there is a stackable chair made from flax and bio-plastic that weight only 2.5 kilograms, courtesy of Jon Hinrik Höskuldsson and Kristine Nørgaard Sejersen.
And then there is a stool by Spriha Chokhani with a seat made using waste pulp from the paper industry and a fossil-free starch glue.
In the future, the aim is to also integrate local plant seeds into the mix so that flowers can bloom from the remains of the biodegradable material.
1:00pm – space age installation
Dezeen's editor-at-large Amy Frearson paid a lunchtime visit to Hay House. The Danish homeware brand is previewing its new collection, which launches later this summer, in a space-age loft installation.
Highlights include the playfully detailed Taburete 8 stool from Marc Morro, the curvy Colour Rack from Muller Van Severen, and lighting designs from John Tree, Rui Pereira and Ryosuke Fukusada.
The brand has also teamed up local restaurant Locale 21 to transform the top floor of its Copenhagen showroom and headquarters into a pop-up eatery.
Sadly, a tight schedule meant there was only time for a few forkfuls of risotto before Frearson was rushed out the door.
12:45pm – "Bar Basso vibes"
The Dezeen team attended a launch event for Sketches of Seating, a new book featuring drawings by designers including Philippe Malouin, Jasper Morrison and Industrial Facility, which is authored by Daniel Schofield and Rhys Kearns.
Hosted at wine bar Andra, and spilling out into the street, the event had "strong Bar Basso vibes despite the chilly temperatures", according to Dezeen's editor-at-large Amy Frearson.
12:30pm – the most Danish lunch award goes to...
It's lunchtime in Copenhagen and in the running for most Danish lunch – an egg-topped herring sandwich.
"Tastes like the sea, looks like the sun," is the review from Dezeen's deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.
The dish called Red Herring, which may be a joke? came from the Designmuseum Denmark's cafe.
The cafe was recently overhauled by Copenhagen-based OEO Studio, which used stone, steel and wood to honour architect Kaare Klint's original design.
12:00pm – Hay wear
Talking of Hay, the Danish design brand has teamed up with Japanese sportswear brand ASICS to launch a collection of suede-and-leather trainers at this year's 3 Days of Design.
Read Cajsa Carlson's full write up of the collaboration on Dezeen here.
11:00am – MoMA tea pots
New York's Museum of Modern Art now makes kettles and tea pots as part of a colourful co-branded kitchenware collection with Danish manufacturer Bodum, reports design editor Jennifer Hahn.
Unveiled exclusively at 3 Days of Design, the contrasting colourways look straight out of the Hay catalogue.
"Hopefully the products will actually work... unlike Hay's Sowden toaster, which broke on me after two uses," said Hahn.
10:30am – selfie zone and squishy mattress
The Danish Architecture Centre has returned to 3 Days of Design with a duo of exhibitions. The first explores how building impact the emotions of their occupants through a series of immersive installations by architecture studio 3XN.
But the highlight is Teenage Dream, for which three young Danish design studios have imagined what teenage bedrooms will look like in the future.
There is a selfie zone by Krøyer-Sætter-Lassen, a recharging station for the soul and for the phone by Our Shift – made from discarded festival tents – and a bedroom made entirely from biomaterials by Natural Materials studio (complete with a giant squishy mattress, kindly demonstrated by Poor Collective's Shawn Adams).
The aim is to explore how young people's progressive values and ways of living will seep into our homes.
"When we dream, we can reject all conventions and traditions, and we can feel free and be more open minded," said curator Pernille Stockmarr.
"And who can do that better than teenagers?"
9:30am – colourful chairs and cinnamon buns
This morning, Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson enjoyed cinnamon buns and colourful modular chairs at the Savo Studies in Seating exhibition.
Showing as part of the Framing exhibition in the beautiful Odd Fellow Palace, the chairs were designed by Stockholm studio Form Us With Love for the Swedish furniture manufacturer.
The idea behind the chair? To design "Lego for the office", Savo commercial officer Craig Howarth told Dezeen.
The modular chairs, which can be adapted in different ways to fit different office set-ups, were first unveiled last year.
9:00am – and we're off!
Dezeen's 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 from the 11th edition of 3 Days of Design.
Dezeen Events Guide has created a 3 Days of Design guide, highlighting the key events at the festival this year.
As the 2024 event gets under way, look back at of some of our coverage from last year – including Helle Mardahl's apartment filled with candy-coloured glass and Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng's aluminium table for Ferm Living.
To stay up to date, follow Dezeen live: 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen, taking place from 7 to 9 June 2023. 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 Clara Finnigan.