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C  Story / Louise Reynolds





                 Danish Design Meets



                     the Love of Coffee








                             A BIG PLAYER IN THE WORLD OF DESIGN




                   D        enmark may be a small country but   in order to ensure quality; stressing comfort and/

                            it is very big in the world of design.
                                                         or utility of the item  — it is not design for design’s
                            The Scandinavian nation is famous
                                                         often natural, materials; and a focus on highly
                            around the globe for producing some   sake, but design to be used; the use of first-class,
                   of the most celebrated examples of stylish and   skilled workmanship.”
                   functionally designed furniture, lighting, and   She added that while stylistically Danish-
                   home wares, including coffee and tea ware.   designed products are obviously very different,
                       Danes are great coffee lovers too. In his   some degree of simplicity and letting the materi-
                   best-selling the Little Book of Hygge, the CEO of   al ‘speak for itself’ rather than over decorating
                   Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen Meik   are typical hallmarks of Danish design. And                                                                                               Photo / Bistro, Bodum
                   Wiking noted, “Danes are the world’s fourth biggest   perhaps most importantly, “the product is de-
                   coffee drinkers, consuming around 33 per cent more   signed to be used  — whether a teapot, a chair, or
                   coffee per capita than Americans.” Wiking also   cutlery  —  the focus is on giving the user a good
                   points out that fans of Danish television dramas   experience with a product that is pleasant and
                   would notice: “Hardly a scene goes by without   comfortable to use yet also beautiful to look at.”
                   someone ordering a coffee, brewing coffee or one   These signature design elements of simplic-
                   person looking at another while asking ‘Coffee?’”  ity, function, comfort, and beauty have become
                       So what happens when timeless Danish design   synonymous with Danish design, keeping Dan-
                   meets the famous Danish love of coffee? We get   ish-designed and made products in high demand
                   some of the most beautiful, functional, and iconic   the world over. These fundamentals of design
                   examples of coffee and tea ware ever produced.   have flowed into coffee and tea ware.  “Simplici-
                                                         ty and elegance in the design — for instance the
                   Champions of Simplicity               thermos by Erik Magnussen or Arne Jacobsen’s
                                                         Cylinda-line coffeepot are beautiful and practical
                       But first, what exactly do we mean by Dan-  — pleasant to hold and easy to pour from,” Wols-
                   ish design?                           gaard Iversen explained.
                       “It is a big question that depends on wheth-  In addition to Arne Jacobsen’s classic Cylin-
                   er we are discussing furniture, ceramics, clothes   da-line series and Erik Magnussen’s EM77 ther-
                   or jewelry,” said Art Historian and Curator at the   mos — both made for Stelton — other famous
                   renowned Designmuseum Danmark (Design   examples of Danish-designed coffee and tea ware
                   Museum of Denmark) Anne Cathrine Wolsgaard   include the Bistro coffee press from Bodum (orig-
                   Iversen, “but some common features include a   inally a Danish company, today Swiss-owned) and
                   focus on the process from idea to finished product   the Bernadotte thermos from Georg Jensen.





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