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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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